Breaking News Map: Plaskett Fire evacuation now bordering on San Luis Obispo County Sports Other Sports News News Based on facts, either observed and verified directly by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. San Jose expected to receive PWHL expansion team, per report San Jose reportedly one of cities expected to receive Professional Women’s Hockey League expansion team Share this: Share on Facebook (Opens in new window) Facebook Share on Bluesky (Opens in new window) Bluesky Print (Opens in new window) Print Email a link to a friend (Opens in new window) Email Share on Reddit (Opens in new window) Reddit Share on X (Opens in new window) X San Jose Sharks fans wait to enter the SAP Center for a “Teal Reimagination Puck Drop Event” in San Jose, Calif., on Tuesday, March 31, 2026. (Nhat V. Meyer/Bay Area News Group) By Curtis Pashelka | cpashelka@bayareanewsgroup.com | Bay Area News Group PUBLISHED: May 8, 2026 at 3:04 PM PDT | UPDATED: May 9, 2026 at 10:19 AM PDT Getting your Trinity Audio player ready... First soccer , then basketball and now hockey? It appears the Bay Area will be home to a new professional women’s sports team as San Jose reportedly is one of two more cities expected to receive expansion franchises in the three-year-old Professional Women’s Hockey League The PWHL announced on Wednesday that it was expanding to Detroit, and Ice Warriors magazine , citing sources, reported on Friday that the league is now in the process of finalizing San Jose and Hamilton, Ontario, as its next two expansion cities, with an official announcement coming from the league sometime this month. Las Vegas is also a frontrunner for an expansion team, the magazine said. Earlier this week, The Athletic strongly hinted that San Jose was a candidate to join the league. The Hockey News reported on Friday that the PWHL and San Jose officials had continued negotiations regarding expansion to the South Bay, but that nothing was official. Detroit will enter the PWHL for the 2026-27 season, as would San Jose, Hamilton, and Las Vegas if those deals are finalized. Messages left with a PWHL spokesperson were not immediately returned. The PWHL had already been preparing to add as many as four teams for next season. Besides Detroit, the PWHL has teams in eight other cities, with Boston, Minnesota, Montréal, New York, Ottawa, Seattle, Toronto, and Vancouver all part of the league’s single-entity ownership structure under TWG Global, which also owns the Los Angeles Dodgers and Los Angeles Lakers, among other sports entities. The expectation is that a San Jose-based PHWL franchise, if it comes to fruition, would play at the 17,435-seat SAP Center, home of the NHL’s San Jose Sharks, although that is not for certain. The PWHL expanded to Seattle and Vancouver before the 2025-26 season, and was reportedly seeking to expand its footprint on the West Coast. Los Angeles was initially thought of as an expansion city before San Jose emerged as a favored destination. The PWHL has reason to continue to expand West. The two new expansion teams led the PWHL in attendance , with the Seattle Torrent ranking first (12,875) and the Vancouver Goldeneyes second (11,234). Seattle plays at the 18,000-seat Climate Pledge Arena, home of the NHL’s Kraken, and the Goldeneyes play at the 16,000-seat Pacific Coliseum, the former home of the Vancouver Canucks. One former Jr. Sharks youth hockey player, Brooke Bryant, plays for the Torrent. Bryant is from Linden and grew up playing youth hockey in Northern California. Bryant won the PWHL championship with Minnesota in 2024 and 2025. For the 2025-26 season, the league announced a combined attendance of 1,116,497 for 120 regular-season games, marking the first time it had drawn more than one million fans. Seattle and Vancouver also had strong merchandise sales. A PWHL franchise would give San Jose its third pro hockey team. The Sharks joined the NHL in 1991 and moved to SAP Center in 1993, after playing two seasons at the Cow Palace in Daly City. The Sharks’ AHL affiliate, the Barracuda, was moved to San Jose from Worcester, Mass., before the start of the 2015-16 season. The Barracuda has played its home games at Tech CU Arena in San Jose since 2022. Related Articles ‘It’s a beautiful thing,’ inaugural Napa Taco Bell 30/50K draws crowd Independent Oakland Ballers minor league club uses metrics, finds winning fan to manage finale Olympic figure skating champion Alysa Liu of Oakland says she’s taking a year off from the sport Pallister beats Ledecky, U.S. sweeps relays over Australia at Pan Pacific Championships A new football title chase lies ahead as women’s flag football closes in on NCAA championship status The PWHL recently eliminated its expansion draft. Per the Associated Press, starting on May 28, PWHL expansion teams can begin reaching out to prospective players before they release a 20-player negotiating list. The Bay Area gained two other professional women’s sports teams in recent years. In April 2023, the National Women’s Soccer League expanded to include Bay FC, which played its first season in 2024 and is now in its third year at PayPal Park in San Jose, which hosted last season’s league championship game. The WNBA granted a franchise to the Bay Area in October 2023, with the San Francisco-based Golden State Valkyries joining the league in 2025. The Valkyries sold out all 22 regular-season home games during their inaugural season at Chase Center in 2025 and set WNBA records for average attendance (18,064) and total attendance (397,408). According to CNBC, the Valkyries recently became the WNBA’s first franchise valued at $1 billion. Share this: Share on Facebook (Opens in new window) Facebook Share on Bluesky (Opens in new window) Bluesky Print (Opens in new window) Print Email a link to a friend (Opens in new window) Email Share on Reddit (Opens in new window) Reddit Share on X (Opens in new window) X Most Popular Most Popular Chris Brown, Usher tour: One act clearly outshines the other in concert Chris Brown, Usher tour: One act clearly outshines the other in concert Meghan Markle demands 9-bedroom home for ‘English countryside dream’: report Meghan Markle demands 9-bedroom home for 'English countryside dream': report Asking Eric: The mandatory social time with my co-workers stresses me out Asking Eric: The mandatory social time with my co-workers stresses me out Dear Abby: She’s getting married because she wants an after-work companion. I suggested a pet. Dear Abby: She's getting married because she wants an after-work companion. I suggested a pet. 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Curated by Taleb Kabbara · Source: www.mercurynews.com