PWHL expanding to San Jose in 2026-27 season for league's 12th franchise: Source

San Jose's PWHL expansion franchise doubles the league's size since its 2024 debut. Rich Graessle / Getty Images Share article1The Professional Women’s Hockey League is headed for the Bay Area, choosing San Jose, Calif., as its fourth and final expansion team for the 2026-27 season, a source briefed on the situation confirmed to The Athletic on Monday. The league is expected to announce San Jose as the home of its 12th franchise Tuesday afternoon at an announced “major press conference related to a landmark sports announcement” at SAP Center, where the NHL’s San Jose Sharks play. The Athletic raised San Jose as a strong contender earlier this month, and last week, the Hockey News and Associated Press reported the city had been chosen as the PWHL’s latest expansion market. San Jose follows Detroit, Las Vegas and Hamilton as part of the league’s second wave of expansion and doubles the league’s size since it debuted in 2024 with six teams in Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal, Boston, New York and Minnesota. The PWHL expanded for the first time last year, adding the Vancouver Goldeneyes and Seattle Torrent. The San Jose franchise will most likely play at the SAP Center, which is undergoing a $425 million renovation to modernize the rink. The Bay Area has become a premier hub for women’s sports with the additions of NWSL and WNBA franchises. Bay FC broke an NWSL attendance record with over 40,000 fans at Oracle Park in 2025 (a record since broken by the league’s newest team, the Denver Summit FC). The Golden State Valkyries had the WNBA’s best average attendance with over 18,000 fans per game and became the first franchise valued at $1 billion, according to CNBC, just one season into their existence. The Bay Area also topped The Athletic’s list of best women’s sports cities back in November. Adding Vegas and San Jose gives the PWHL a stronger, four-team foothold on the West Coast and should improve travel, which was an issue to some degree for the league’s lone West Coast teams (Vancouver and Seattle) this season. Both expansion teams finished in the bottom two in the league standings in their inaugural seasons. “We’re both struggling,” said Vancouver coach Brian Idalski after a two-week trip that ended last month. “There’s something there. There’s something with the travel and us going back and forth that’s happening to our bodies.” The move also makes the league more geographically balanced with four teams in the West, two teams in the Midwest and five others in the East. Spot the pattern. Connect the terms Find the hidden link between sports terms