San Jose landed a pro women’s hockey franchise on Tuesday with the PWHL completing its ambitious four-team expansion process with a first entry into California.
The league now has 12 teams entering its fourth season, and has doubled in size since the PWHL was established in June 2023. In selecting San Jose, the PWHL adds a region with a population of about 7.6 million, strengthens its geographic footprint with a third Pacific Coast-based franchise,
and enters a market with a strong history of supporting women’s sports and girls hockey development.
The team will play out of the NHL home of the San Jose Sharks, the SAP Center, with the bid to land the franchise led by the city and Sharks Sports & Entertainment.
“Between a deeply rooted hockey culture, rapidly booming women’s sports scene, and a community known for growth and innovation, San Jose offers a dynamic stage for the PWHL to expand its reach and build lasting momentum,” said Amy Scheer, PWHL executive vice president of business operations.
San Jose’s selection closes the league’s second expansion process, which began with the addition of Detroit two weeks ago followed by Las Vegas and Hamilton, Ontario, a week later They join Seattle and Vancouver, who were added last year, and the PWHL's original six markets of Boston, New York, Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto and Minnesota.
Scheer has previously said league officials are exploring splitting in either two conferences or multiple divisions. All four newcomers help fill geographical voids in reducing travel time between markets.
San Jose has also become a hockey hotbed in ranking sixth in the nation in girls hockey participation.
“From its humble beginnings with an NHL expansion team in 1991, San Jose is now truly a ‘hockey city,’" Sharks Sports & Entertainment president Jonathan Becher said.
The yet-to-be-named team’s colors will be orange — in a nod to the Sharks — blue and white, representing the coastline and sky.
The PWHL team will be the third major women’s professional franchise to come to the Bay Area in recent years, following Bay FC of the National Women’s Soccer League in 2024 and the Golden State Valkyries of the WNBA in 2025.
Bay FC ranked third in the NWSL in attendance last season and drew 40,091 fans to a game at Oracle Park in San Francisco for the third largest crowd in league history.
The Valkyries made the playoffs as an expansion team when they led the league in attendance with more than 18,000 fans a game at Chase Center. The team was recently valued at a league-high $850 million by Sportico after the ownership paid an expansion fee of $50 million in 2023.
The PWHL controls all of its franchises, and is privately financed by Los Angeles Dodgers owner Mark Walter and his wife Kimbra.
The fast-paced growth represents the surge in attention the league anticipated women’s hockey would enjoy following the Milan Cortina Olympics in February. Another factor is the league preparing for a bumper-crop of high-level talent declaring for this year’s draft.
The 235-player prospect class includes five collegians who won Olympic gold representing the United States, and headed by Wisconsin defender Caroline Harvey, as well as a growing number of Europeans making the jump to North America.
By growing to 12 teams, including seven in the U.S., the PWHL is also in better position to secure a national broadcast partner. Scripps Sports is the likely candidate with the broadcaster taking the first step this season by airing PWHL playoff games on ION, which reaches 126 million American households.
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AP Sports Writer Josh Dubow contributed to this report.
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AP women’s hockey: https://apnews.com/hub/womens-hockey
