Women’s sports have been rapidly growing in the Bay Area. The Golden State Valkyries were recently valued at an impressive $1 billion in only their second season. Plus, a professional women’s soccer team, Bay FC, debuted in 2023. Now, a new professional women’s hockey team is coming to the Bay Area.
Bay Area Professional Women’s Hockey
The Professional Women’s Hockey League announced an expansion to San Jose for the 2026-2027 season. The new team will play at the SAP Center and train at Sharks Ice in San Jose. The San Jose team is the latest in a four-team expansion for the hockey league. The Bay Area is already home to one professional hockey team, the San Jose Sharks, which was initially founded in 1990.
“We are honored the PWHL has chosen San José as the site of its latest expansion team, joining the NHL’s San Jose Sharks and the AHL’s San Jose Barracuda,” said Jonathan Becher, Sharks Sports & Entertainment President, in a recent statement. “From its humble beginnings with an NHL expansion team in 1991, San José is now truly a ‘hockey city.’ Boasting three professional hockey teams and Sharks Ice, a six-sheet public recreational ice facility, San José hosts one of the largest collection of boys, girls, and adult hockey players in the U.S. Personally, I can’t wait until opening night of PWHL San Jose later this year.”
The announcement also revealed the new team’s colors: orange, blue, and white. Other teams included in the recent expansion are Detroit, Hamilton, and Las Vegas. The PWHL currently has eight teams in the United States and Canada, including Boston, Seattle, Toronto, and New York.
Tickets are not yet on sale, but eager fans can put a $50 deposit down toward a season membership, with a time stamp that gives priority access. You can learn more about the new PWHL San Jose team here.
