Ottawa Charge makes Canadian Tire Centre its permanent home for 2026-27 PWHL season

The PWHL’s Ottawa Charge has agreed to make the Canadian Tire Centre its permanent home, the team announced at a news conference Thursday afternoon. Beginning with the 2026-27 season, the Charge will play its home games at the arena in Ottawa that is also the longtime home of the Ottawa Senators.

The move is tied to the Ottawa-Gatineau region’s bid to sustain a higher level of professional women’s hockey at a major arena venue. In a statement carried by the team, Senators Sports & Entertainment president and CEO Cyril Leeder said the organization is “proud to officially welcome the Ottawa Charge to Canadian Tire Centre,” framing the partnership as a regional opportunity for fans who follow both franchises.

The announcement positions the Charge for a season-opening transition in venue planning, ticketing, and in-arena operations, since Canadian Tire Centre is a larger, multipurpose facility than typical smaller hockey stops used by emerging leagues. For the PWHL, the shift underscores how teams are building long-term stability as the league continues to develop its footprint and fan base.

For Ottawa supporters, the change also creates a clearer, year-round destination around a single venue. While the Senators run a full NHL calendar, a permanent Charge home venue can help normalize women’s pro hockey as part of the same broader entertainment ecosystem in the region, rather than treating it as a rotating event.

The Charge’s announcement does not outline details in the Yahoo report regarding schedule structure, additional PWHL events, or how specific dates and promotional packages will work once the team’s season begins in 2026-27. As a result, the practical “when” of the first Charge home game at Canadian Tire Centre remains to be confirmed through the league’s later scheduling process.

Still, the venue decision is a meaningful step for a league that has increasingly relied on mainstream arena infrastructure to broaden visibility. Playing in a prominent arena can also affect the game-day experience for season ticket holders and first-time attendees, with larger capacity and an established event-production framework.

Looking ahead, the key question for the Charge will be how quickly it can translate a permanent home into consistent attendance and a settled fan routine, especially during the early part of the 2026-27 season. For the PWHL overall, the Canadian Tire Centre deal may serve as a template for how other franchises pursue durable, high-capacity venues as the league grows.