{"id":569067,"date":"2026-05-07T11:48:20","date_gmt":"2026-05-07T11:48:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/569067\/"},"modified":"2026-05-07T11:48:20","modified_gmt":"2026-05-07T11:48:20","slug":"what-im-hearing-about-pwhl-expansion-why-san-jose-is-a-strong-candidate-to-land-a-team","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/569067\/","title":{"rendered":"What I\u2019m hearing about PWHL expansion: Why San Jose is a strong candidate to land a team"},"content":{"rendered":"

On Wednesday morning, the PWHL officially announced it is heading to Detroit for the 2026-27 season<\/a>. It won\u2019t be the only big expansion announcement in the coming weeks.<\/p>\n

In an email obtained by The Athletic, PWHLPA executive director Malaika Underwood told players \u201cthe league intends to move forward with a four-team expansion.\u201d When asked about the email, Amy Scheer, the PWHL\u2019s executive vice president of business operations, said the league could add two, three or four teams.<\/p>\n

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Selecting expansion markets has been a fluid process for league executives, who have spent months working through the available options. \u201cThe answers will come when we feel comfortable making a final decision,\u201d Scheer told The Athletic last month.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s been no shortage of online discussion over where the league might eventually land. And over the last few weeks, there\u2019s been increased chatter among league circles that San Jose<\/a> has emerged as a prime option.<\/p>\n

Expansion to San Jose might feel out of left field \u2014 especially as fans in established NHL cities such as Washington, D.C., and Pittsburgh<\/a> have long clamored for a team \u2014 but that doesn\u2019t mean it\u2019s not an intriguing fit.<\/p>\n

The Bay Area has become a premier hub for women\u2019s sports with the additions of NWSL and WNBA franchises in recent years. Bay FC broke the NWSL attendance record last season with over 40,000 fans at Oracle Park (a record since broken by the league\u2019s newest team, Denver Summit FC).<\/p>\n

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In the WNBA, the Golden State Valkyries topped the league average attendance table last season 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.<\/p>\n

The Bay Area also topped The Athletic\u2019s list of women\u2019s sports cities back in November<\/a>.<\/p>\n

As The Athletic\u2019s Marcus Thompson II wrote: \u201cThe Bay doesn\u2019t just support women\u2019s sports, it centers them. It elevates them. It multiplies them. It invests in them by buying tickets and merch. Tens of thousands of people will drop everything to watch women hoop, swim, skate, run, pass, score. Shine.\u201d<\/p>\n

After adding expansion teams in Vancouver<\/a> and Seattle<\/a> last season, there is likely a need for the PWHL to continue adding teams on the West Coast. Especially if the PWHL splits two conferences; Scheer told the Associated Press<\/a> the league is exploring the idea.<\/p>\n

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A team in San Jose would make the league more geographically balanced \u2014 with at least three teams out west, two in the Midwest and five out east \u2014 and could cut back on Seattle and Vancouver\u2019s travel, which was an issue to some degree this season. Both expansion teams struggled in their inaugural seasons and finished bottom-two in the league standings. Vancouver head coach Brian Idalski was vocal about the challenges of travel.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re both struggling,\u201d he said after a two-week road trip that ended last month. \u201cThere\u2019s something there. There\u2019s something with the travel and us going back and forth that\u2019s happening to our bodies.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hockey in general is on the upswing in San Jose, too, with 19-year-old superstar Macklin Celebrini<\/a> driving one of the highest year-over-year attendance growth rates in the NHL this season. The San Jose Sharks<\/a> averaged just over 16,000 fans at the SAP Center this season, up from around 14,000 in 2024-25.<\/p>\n

The SAP Center is the most likely primary venue for a PWHL team in San Jose, and should be more available compared to other options in California. It\u2019s also undergoing a $425 million renovation to modernize the rink. Crypto.com Arena is home to three professional teams (in the NHL, NBA and WNBA) and hosts tons of concerts and events. The Intuit Dome, home of the Los Angeles Clippers, is exclusively used for basketball and concerts.<\/p>\n

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There have been Canada-USA Rivalry Series games at Tech CU Arena \u2014 where the Sharks\u2019 minor league affiliate plays \u2014 in San Jose in the past. But women\u2019s hockey has outgrown that arena\u2019s 4,200-seat capacity.<\/p>\n

If the league indeed expands to San Jose \u2014 or another appealing West Coast market \u2014 that leaves room for two more teams. Given the consistently strong attendance numbers in the league\u2019s current Canadian markets \u2014 Toronto<\/a>, Ottawa<\/a>, Vancouver and Montreal<\/a> \u2014 at least one new franchise should be North of the border.<\/p>\n

Calgary<\/a> \u2014 with a brand new building opening in 2027-28 \u2014 would be an obvious landing spot for the PWHL. But if the league is bullish on getting to 12 teams in its second round of expansion \u2014 and limiting the amount of consecutive seasons it shakes up rosters \u2014 Calgary will have just missed out.<\/p>\n

There are other strong options, however, in Hamilton, Quebec City and Halifax.<\/p>\n

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Last month, The Athletic reported that Hamilton\u2019s stock was on the rise; that doesn\u2019t appear to have changed. A team in Hamilton would work well within the league\u2019s current footprint with manageable bus trips to Detroit, Ottawa and nearby Toronto. Montreal (393 miles away from Hamilton, or a six-hour drive on a good traffic day) is right on the line of the CBA\u2019s six-hour or 400-mile threshold for air travel.<\/p>\n

Hamilton could draw some amount of fans from the Greater Toronto Area, but also further south into Ontario and as far as Buffalo. The Toronto Sceptres have been such a success that the team\u2019s core fan base shouldn\u2019t be overly impacted.<\/p>\n

Adding a team in Hamilton would also give the league a sixth \u2014 and perhaps final, for now \u2014 eastern conference team. If that\u2019s the PWHL\u2019s calculus, then perhaps there\u2019s another West Coast option.<\/p>\n

This article originally appeared in The Athletic<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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San Jose Sharks, Toronto Sceptres, Minnesota Frost, Vancouver<\/a> Goldeneyes, New York Sirens, Montreal Victoire, Ottawa Charge, Seattle Torrent, Boston Fleet, NHL, Sports Business, Women’s Hockey<\/p>\n

2026 The Athletic Media Company<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"On Wednesday morning, the PWHL officially announced it is heading to Detroit for the 2026-27 season. It won\u2019t…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":569068,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5127],"tags":[3136,895,599,3306,11305,5,571,501,264,4,72,1469,1767,519,168,5306,5305,2686,1780,130,7043,66,893],"class_list":["post-569067","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-jose-sharks","tag-amy-scheer","tag-calgary","tag-detroit","tag-expansion-teams","tag-golden-state-valkyries","tag-hockey","tag-los-angeles-clippers","tag-macklin-celebrini","tag-montreal","tag-nhl","tag-ottawa","tag-pittsburgh","tag-pwhl","tag-san-jose","tag-san-jose-sharks","tag-sanjose","tag-sanjosesharks","tag-seattle","tag-sharks","tag-team","tag-the-athletic","tag-toronto","tag-vancouver"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/116533140103261080","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/569067","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=569067"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/569067\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/569068"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=569067"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=569067"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=569067"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}