The Bay Area Women's Sports Boom
Three teams. Three years. One historic wave. Professional women's hockey is officially coming to San Jose, joining the NWSL’s Bay FC and the WNBA’s Golden State Valkyries in a boom that has turned the Bay Area into an epicenter of women’s sports.
A New Era in the Bay
At the announcement event for PWHL San Jose, Bay FC co-founder Brandi Chastain remarked on the excitement and importance of these teams: “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,” said Chastain. Just a few years ago, the Bay Area had no team in a major professional women’s sports league. Beginning this winter, young fans around the Bay will have three teams and roughly 60 professional women athletes to look up to.
A Proven Market
This women’s sports boom is no accident; it was driven by determined advocates who fought to bring these teams to the Bay, and the support of fans who have made these teams some of the most successful in their respective leagues. The WNBA’s Golden State Valkyries sold out all 22 regular-season home games during their inaugural season in 2025, and set WNBA records for average attendance (18,064) and total attendance (397,408). The NWSL Bay FC match at Oracle Park in August 2025 set a new NWSL attendance record with a sellout crowd of 40,091. The message is hard to miss: women’s sports are no experiment, and these crowds are no fluke. Women's sports belong in the Bay Area, and women’s hockey is no exception.
San Jose Makes Its Pitch
PWHL San Jose will make history as the league’s first team in California, but San Jose was not always the obvious choice. Initially, it was reported that the league was eyeing Los Angeles as the California entry point, and San Jose had previously been denied during the first PWHL expansion in 2025. But when expansion came around again, San Jose had a major advantage: the full support of the Sharks organization, spearheaded by Sharks president Jonathan Becher. The Sharks’ willingness to share SAP Center and practice facilities at Sharks Ice was critical to San Jose's winning bid, while the success of other women’s sports teams in the Bay was one of the major deciding factors.
A Hockey Town, Threefold
The team has already seen massive interest; demand for season tickets soared within hours of the team’s announcement, with nearly 2,000 deposits put down before the announcement conference even began, shattering expectations. The addition of PWHL San Jose solidifies the city as a certified hockey town; San Jose will be the only city in the United States to simultaneously host an NHL team (the San Jose Sharks), an AHL team (the San Jose Barracuda), and a PWHL franchise.
For the Next Generation
Growing up in San Jose, Brandi Chastain had no hometown women’s team to dream of playing for. Girls growing up in the Bay Area today will have three, and the opportunity to grow up believing that there's a place for them, too.
