On September 8, 1935, Larry Welch, a longtime hockey promoter at the Duquesne Gardens, announced that Pittsburgh had secured a team in the International Hockey League, pending league approval. The club operated under the Pittsburgh Professional Hockey Club, Inc. with papers of incorporation being immediately applied for The team had then signed a two-year lease at the Garden and a plan was established that split the Gardens' ice time between the new IHL team and the Pittsburgh Yellow Jackets, Pittsburgh's club in the Eastern Amateur Hockey League.