For years my twin brother, WDSU news anchor Travers Mackel, and I would emcee an event for The Idea Village called “The Big Idea.”
Listening to local entrepreneurs pitch products and ideas in hopes of landing seed funding was always fascinating and motivating.
The slogan for the contest was “Trust Your Crazy Idea.”
Inspired by that sentence, here’s my crazy idea, which in all honesty, the more I think about it, sounds rational and sorta visionary, not crazy at all.
The Professional Women’s Hockey League (PWHL) in New Orleans serving as the anchor tenant at a newly renovated Municipal Auditorium.
THE PWHL
Let’s start with the PWHL. One of the fastest growing sports properties worldwide, the league features a single-entity ownership model. All franchises are centrally owned by TWG Global, allowing CEO Mark Walter and his partners the ability to grow the league using an “all for one, one for all” system. The long-term success of the entire league is more important than the short-term growth of a single team in a market that’s a hockey hotbed.
The PWHL was also created with a ‘players first’ approach to league building, providing comprehensive medical coverage coupled with competitive salaries (averaging $58,000 and reaching into 6-figures for star players), as well as housing, maternity leave provisions, and childcare support.
Creating an infrastructure on and off the ice that allows the best players to be full-time professional athletes has made the product world class and ensures the best players want to be a part of the league, which results in fans wanting to watch games.
Speaking of watching games, PWHL streams all games for free on YouTube and has reached individual broadcasting deals with local and regional TV partners in almost all its markets.
Access is key and PWHL is accessible.
One quick personal note, I had the opportunity to cover the 2026 Milan Cortina Winter Olympics and was assigned to the U.S. Women’s Hockey Team.
The interest in the team via social media and broadcast television was unprecedented.
Because of what I witnessed firsthand, I truly believe this is a league that will continue to grow and become one of the great success stories in worldwide sport over the next decade.
NHL EXPANSION IS NOT COMING TO NOLA
Our city made headlines over the past 18 months regarding National Hockey League (NHL) expansion.
State leaders from Louisiana, including Governor Jeff Landry, even met with NHL executives regarding expansion.
I love it!
Think big, go big!
Unfortunately, New Orleans is not a serious contender if and/or when the NHL expands.
In fact, just recently the NHL announced Texas is the frontrunner for expansion. The league granted exclusive rights to evaluate Houston and Austin as the league’s 33rd franchise. The proposed project requires a $3.5 billion investment, which includes an estimated $2 billion expansion fee and the cost of constructing a new arena. While the Texas bid is the most advanced, the league has also received interest from groups in Atlanta and Arizona regarding potential future expansion.
Not one mention of New Orleans, so, the ‘NHL to NOLA’ movement is over.
But I’d urge the passionate people who chased and dreamed of the NHL in the Crescent City to pivot and put the same time and energy into a PWHL expansion team.
WORKING TOGETHER
Speaking of working together, that’s what we need right now!
I’m just the sports twin; my aforementioned brother Travers is the one who covers news and politics.
But the divide and harsh rhetoric right now between New Orleans and the state of Louisiana benefits no one.
I understand political differences, but finding common ground and working together is what our city and state needs to be successful and finally reach its potential.
Sports can unite us. Sports have united us.
I recall covering the Hondo Rodeo last spring. Seeing New Orleans Mayor Helena Moreno and Governor Jeff Landry on stage together celebrating this event was special.
The rodeo was a big success and is coming back in 2027.
New Orleans and Louisiana need each other and need to work together, and sports can be the common denominator.
In hopes of healing recent wounds, perhaps Mayor Moreno joins Governor Landry to meet with TWG Global and Mark Walter. The two high-profile elected leaders form a unified front and let Walter and his board know that New Orleans would be the perfect expansion location for the next round of PWHL advancement.
When I think about pro sports expansion, specifically expansion into women’s pro sports, I think about WNBA star Sophie Cunningham.
She sparked viral reactions when she criticized the WNBA’s expansion to places like Cleveland and Detroit. She expressed skepticism about player excitement, suggesting markets like Miami or Nashville would have been better destinations.
She’s right!
So, New Orleans should lean into that school of thought.
A culturally diverse, entertainment city with a tremendous appetite for sports and a historic, newly renovated facility coming back online, that’s a perfect recipe, a perfect gumbo for a new professional team.
Heck, since this sports column is about spit-balling ideas, maybe New Orleans partners with Austin, allowing leaders from both cities and states to meet with Walter about joining the PWHL together.
The 13th and 14th franchises in the PWHL, New Orleans and Austin!
THE MUNICIPAL AUDITORIUM
The historic Municipal Auditorium, which sits across the street from the French Quarter, is a property that spikes my blood pressure.
A venue that once hosted Elvis Presley and Led Zeppelin was the home of both the New Orleans Buccaneers of the ABA (American Basketball Association), the New Orleans Jazz of the NBA, the New Orleans Brass of the ECHL (East Coast Hockey League) and literally thousands of Mardi Gras balls, is now a blighted, mold-filled disaster.
The fact this facility has sat dormant since Hurricane Katrina in 2005 is beyond infuriating.
Getting this once beautiful building renovated and re-opened using the FEMA money which has been sitting in escrow for two decades, coupled with state and city funds, should have been a priority long ago.
Make it one now, with the intention of making a PWHL team the primary tenant.
The PWHL team would play 15 home dates (the PWHL plays 30 regular season games plus playoff matches). Having an ice hockey rink allows the franchise to form partnerships with NORD (New Orleans Recreation Department) and JPRD (Jefferson Parish Recreation Department) to create youth leagues and recreational men’s and women’s leagues available for all ages throughout the region.
Quick sidebar: I covered Team USA women’s player Hannah Bilka at the games in Italy. Bilka is a gold medalist in ice hockey, from Coppell, Texas! Bilka grew up training at local Dallas Stars (NHL) centers and credits the Dallas Stars’ youth programs for launching her hockey trajectory.
Having access and opportunity matters and that’s what a PWHL team in New Orleans at the Municipal Auditorium can do for southeast Louisiana.
Like the Smoothie King Center, the Municipal Auditorium would host concerts and events year-round, providing a much-needed event space. While the Superdome is legendary and the Smoothie King Center is a consistently booked workhorse, we don’t have a venue near our tourism epicenter for events and productions needing a smaller footprint between 5,000-10,000.
The total seating capacity for the Municipal Auditorium is 7,853 with about 5,000 seats for the hockey configuration.
Moving a revamped Municipal Auditorium under the authority of the Louisiana Stadium and Exposition District (LSED), which oversees the state-owned Caesars Superdome, Smoothie King Center, Champions Square and Shrine on Airline seems like a no-brainer to me. Add ASM Global which handles day-to-day managerial operations, and a path forward is set for the 95-year-old building.
IN CLOSING
Having more makes us more.
Quick story about my friend Jeff Lazaro.
Born and raised in the Boston area, Lazaro played in the NHL and in the 1994 Lillehammer Winter Olympics on Team USA. Toward the end of his professional hockey career, he took a chance on a new team in a new hockey city. In the late 1990s Lazaro became the face of the New Orleans Brass hockey team.
Expecting to spend only a handful of years closing out his career in New Orleans, life had other plans for Lazaro. He met his now wife, fell in love and nearly 30 years later, he’s still in New Orleans! A father of four and a successful businessman, he lives on the lakefront with his wonderful family.
Hockey brought him to New Orleans…our people, culture and way of life kept him here.
He’s just one person, one story, but he proves that by having more opportunities, we can attract and keep more great people and businesses.
We’ve got an NFL team locked in; the NBA team should have a new long-term deal agreed to this fall. We’re always in the mix hosting the biggest sporting events and we’ve got major tourism development with the new Omni Hotel moving forward.
It’s time to add a new pro sports team to the mix.
The Professional Women’s Hockey League is the perfect fit at the perfect time.
READ MORE:Sports Column: Fletcher Mackel explains how & why professional hockey in New Orleans could succeed
