PWHL unveils San Jose expansion team for 2026-27 season

The Athletic also reported the development Monday. The San Jose team will play its home games at the SAP Center, home of the NHL’s San Jose Sharks, which is getting a $425 million renovation. The team will also use Sharks Ice as a training facility.

As part of Tuesday’s announcement, the league also revealed San Jose’s colors: orange, blue and white. The Athletic reported earlier this month that San Jose was a strong contender for expansion due to the Bay Area’s women’s sports boom. California ranks sixth in the nation in girls’ hockey participation behind five hockey hotbeds, four of which (Minnesota, Massachusetts, New York and now Michigan) already have PWHL teams.

“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, the PWHL’s executive vice president of business operations. With the addition of San Jose, the PWHL will have 12 teams across North America in 2026-27, doubling the league’s size since its inaugural season less than three years ago. The PWHL debuted in January 2024 with six teams in Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal, Boston, New York and Minnesota.

It expanded for the first time last year, adding Vancouver and Seattle. The league introduced Detroit as the first of four new expansion teams on May 6, then followed with the announcements for Las Vegas, Hamilton and San Jose in a busy two-week sprint concurrent with the ongoing PWHL playoffs. The league will continue to operate under a single-entity ownership model, which means that Mark Walter — the billionaire owner of the Los Angeles Dodgers — and his wife, Kimbra, own the league and its 12 teams.