Three U.S. Destinations Prepare to Host Rivalry Series Games

The annual Rivalry Series between the women’s teams from USA Hockey and Hockey Canada has evolved into a must-see event over its first five years with a mix of appealing to new markets, the increasing appetite and enthusiasm for women’s sports and the ability to watch one of the best rivalries in winter sports play out over multiple games.

The 2024–2025 Rivalry Series starts November 6 at Tech CU Arena in San Jose, then travels to the Maverik Center in Salt Lake City on November 8 and heads to Boise, Idaho, on November 10 at the Idaho Central Arena. The last two games of the Rivalry Series will be played in Canada, with the Scotiabank Centre in Halifax, Nova Scotia, hosting on February 6, 2025, before the final game at Credit Union Place in Summerside on Prince Edward Island on February 8.

Tony Driscoll, assistant executive director of marketing, communications and events at USA Hockey, said Boise and Salt Lake City are two markets that USA Hockey has not been to in a long time, but that didn’t stop either destination from making a strong push to host games.

“The first things we look for in a potential host is quality of the facilities and the organizations that we get to work with are important as well,” said Tony Driscoll, assistant executive director of marketing, communications and events at USA Hockey. “Then we try to gauge the community support. Does it have hockey currently? Is there support for hockey in the market? What does our youth system look like there? And then we consider the growth opportunities.”

Lucas Gebhart, sports sales manager at Visit Boise, has seen interest grow for the Boise Steelheads, an ECHL minor league team that feeds into the NHL’s Dallas Stars.

“The Steelheads sold out all but one of their home games last year,” Gebhart said. “A couple of years ago, we did an NHL preseason game here between Vegas and Arizona. We’re maybe not quite on the map as much as a Boston or a Minneapolis, but I’d say that we have a tremendous hockey fanbase.”

Salt Lake City is known for the Utah Jazz and Utah Utes, but recently the area added a NHL franchise.

“We are experiencing a sports boom here, but in particular in the hockey realm,” said Clay Partain, executive director of Sports Salt Lake. “With the announcement of the Winter Games, with the announcement of the Utah Hockey Club, we really saw it as advantageous. And so did USA Hockey about bringing the Rivalry Series here.”

The Rivalry Series has been to Southern California numerous times over the past five years, but this will be the event’s debut in Northern California. Not only does San Jose have the NHL’s Sharks, but also the AHL’s Barracuda, the minor league affiliate of the Sharks.

“We’re excited to bring the Rivalry Series to San Jose,” said John LaFortune, president and chief executive officer of Visit San Jose. “You can feel the anticipation and energy building up citywide from locals, visitors and the community.”

The break between two sets of games — and the series being five games instead of the traditional seven — is because of the PWHL, which starts its second season November 30 with an expanded schedule after a successful inaugural season.

Rivalry Series a Tough Ticket

USA Hockey will be putting out its RFP for the 2025–2026 Rivalry Series in the coming weeks and shouldn’t have any trouble drawing significant interest, as it typically draws up to eight cities bidding. What a destination gets with a Rivalry Series game is visibility on the national stage and the ability to continue growing its hockey fan base, specifically among women and girls.

“We’ve had multiple camps and clinics and multiple activation points,” Driscoll said. “In early October we had two players out in Salt Lake City doing some pre-event media tours. They were on the ice with some young kids who will hopefully be playing hockey soon. So this is really important and our players really believe in this as well. Putting our players in these markets and having them be visible and available to the younger generation is massive for us.”

Gebhart says the Idaho Amateur Hockey Association was excited about hosting a Rivalry Series game from the moment the bid went in. Visit Boise worked with them to organize a kids camp and meet and greets surrounding the event. There are only a few tickets left for the Boise game, as Steelheads season ticket holders bought thousands and some youth hockey groups in Idaho also picked up hundreds.

“We’re definitely seeing a heightened interest of hockey here,” Gebhart said. “It’s a cool experience for the kids. It’s part of what I love about my job — I can help create some kind of lasting experience for a kid that’s going to have them fall in love with the sport like I did when I was a kid.

“The first thing people know us for is Boise State football and the Fiesta Bowls and the blue field… or potatoes. But once people get here and see what we have — our 5,000-seat arena is right in the center of our downtown in the heart of the city — they see what we can offer.”

Salt Lake City had a couple of options when it came to which venue to put a bid in for and the decision to choose the Maverik Center was intentional. The region has a district funding source called the C.T.A.A. and there’s one in the West Valley area around the Maverik Center.

“We knew we had some extra funding mechanisms that we could potentially go after and it’s tied specifically to the hotels in West Valley City,” Partain said. “So we actually brought them all to the table and said, ‘hey, we should come together to try to bring this event in.’ We knew it would probably be a good idea and they agreed with us. So it was a perfect setting, perfect venue, everything kind of worked out perfectly for that.”

The San Jose region is home to National Women’s Soccer League side Bay FC, so welcoming the top women’s hockey players in the world is a natural next step.

“The Rivalry Series game is important for the next generation of athletes and fans,” LaFortune said. “San Jose has a strong and established women’s sports fanbase with Bay FC playing in the literal same arena as the San Jose Earthquakes. Now Sharks hockey fans can see the U.S. Women’s National Team in action, too. We hope San Jose’s young fans will find inspiration in the Rivalry Series experience at Tech CU Arena.”

USA Hockey and the three destinations have hit the marketing trail hard. Driscoll says that Boise and San Jose are both tracking toward being sellouts, with Salt Lake City also having a large crowd at its 12,000-seat arena.

“We’ve done a great job marketing this event over the years,” Driscoll said. “I don’t want to say we’re working less hard now, because it’s always hard to sell out tickets and sell out buildings. But I think it’s just a little bit different now and there’s more awareness of this event. The event sells itself.”