San Jose's PWHL Expansion Adds To A Growing Hub Of Women's Sports

The Bay Area has become a hotbed for women's sports over the past few years. Bay FC of the NWSL set the standard when they came into the mix in 2024. The following year, the Golden State Valkyries joined the WNBA and now, as of Tuesday, the PWHL has granted San Jose an expansion franchise as well. 

On Tuesday afternoon, the PWHL hosted a press conference to officially announce their 12th franchise, PWHL San Jose. 

The event began with the guests of honor entering the venue in low-riders owned by women from East Side San Jose's United Low-Rider Council. Those guests included Amy Scheer, the PWHL's Senior Vice President of Business Operations, Jonathan Becher, the President of Sharks Sports and Entertainment, the mayor of San Jose Matt Mahan, and Bay Area legends Kristi Yamaguchi and Brandi Chastain.

"Hockey has officially become part of the fabric of this community, and now young athletes across Northern California will have something that many of them have never got to experience before," the host of the evening Brodie Brazil said in his opening comments. "That is a professional women's hockey team that they can call their own. It's going to be a team they can watch, it's going to be a team they can cheer for, and most importantly, a team they can see themselves in." 

For many years, there was no way for a young girl in the Bay Area to see people like her perform on a grand stage.

"Honestly, I'm almost at a loss for words, because as a young girl growing up in South San Jose, there were no professional women's team sports," Chastain, a co-founder of the Bay FC said of the addition of San Jose to the PWHL.

"San Jose in the Bay Area is about dreamers, it's about believers, it's about innovators, it's about startup culture, about moving forward fast and not being afraid. We believe that women's sports is not a hiccup, it's not a charity. We have believed in women's sports for a long time."

There had previously been attempts to establish the Bay as a legitimate market for women's sports, but they never lasted long. The San Jose Lasers for example, were a short-lived franchise in the American Basketball League which folded in 1998. There were a couple of attempts to establish a successful women's soccer team as well, with the San Jose CyberRays and FC Gold pride. Now, though, things have changed considerably.

Bay FC finished their second season with the fourth best attendance in the NWSL while the Golden State Valkyries finished the 2025 season with the highest attendance in the WNBA. 

In his media availability, Becher revealed that San Jose had attempted to get an expansion franchise ahead of the 2025-26 season, but ultimately the PWHL opted to go with Vancouver and Seattle instead. 

Scheer announced that there were more than 1,000 deposits made toward PWHL San Jose season tickets by the time she arrived at the SAP Center on Tuesday morning. Becher seemed to have a more up-to-date number, but didn't share it, stating, "their deposits are already over the roof, I'm not supposed to tell you the number, but it's well above their expectations."

San Jose is growing both as a hub for women's sports and as a hockey market, as a result, the PWHL decided it was time to take advantage and brought a team to the Bay Area.