The team, which has yet to be named, has already exceeded expectations for season ticket deposits.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/cdn.kqed.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2026\/05\/PWHLSJ1.jpg\")
<\/div>\nThe PWHL San Jos\u00e9 expansion announcement at SAP Center on May 19, 2026, in San Jos\u00e9, California. <\/span>\u00a0(Kavin Mistry\/SAP Center)<\/cite><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Season ticket deposits opened Tuesday and were already well above the league\u2019s first-day expectations, according to Becher, who declined to share the specific number.<\/p>\n Scheduling around the Sharks and the arena\u2019s more than 100 annual events will take some coordination, Becher acknowledged. He said the organization has navigated similar logistics before, when the Barracuda shared the building.<\/p>\n Becher said that major construction of the building is still underway, and that the biggest concern has revolved around \u201chow to make room for them, and for the Sharks, and for all the events because it\u2019s one of the busiest buildings.\u201d<\/p>\n The PWHL, which is centrally owned and operated, chose blue and orange as the team\u2019s colors \u2014 a dual nod to San Jos\u00e9\u2019s identity while avoiding replication of the Sharks\u2019 teal.<\/p>\n Mayor Matt Mahan took the opportunity to lobby for the San Jos\u00e9 Hammerheads as a potential team name, in honor of former Mayor Susan Hammer and to keep with the arena\u2019s ocean theme. Becher confirmed that Hammerheads is on the shortlist.<\/p>\n The team\u2019s first home game date has not yet been confirmed, pending the release of the NHL schedule.<\/p>\n Tuesday\u2019s event drew Olympic gold medalists Brandi Chastain and Kristi Yamaguchi, both Bay Area natives, who framed the announcement as the latest chapter in a longer story about the trajectory of women\u2019s sports.<\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve been screaming about women\u2019s sports for 50 or more years,\u201d Chastain said. \u201cThe fact that we have this now \u2014 we have WNBA, we have soccer, we have hockey \u2014 it is incredible.\u201d<\/p>\n Yamaguchi pointed to the league\u2019s 60-plus Olympians and the recent surge in women\u2019s sports viewership as signs of what\u2019s to come.<\/p>\n \u201cIn the past, we kind of looked to the Olympics once every four years to watch elite women\u2019s hockey,\u201d Yamaguchi said. \u201cNow we\u2019ll be able to see it every single week.\u201d<\/p>\n Amy Scheer, PWHL executive vice president of business operations, noted that women\u2019s hockey in California actually dates back more than a century. She referenced a 1916 game played by a Bay Area team called the Oakland Minervas, which drew 1,200 fans and sparked a brief boom in the sport before it eventually faded. But, Scheer said, this time, the PWHL intends to stay.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are going nowhere,\u201d Scheer said. \u201cWe are here for the long term and will continue to build women\u2019s hockey and keep growing, growing and growing.\u201d<\/p>\n Chastain, a co-founder of Bay FC, said she hopes the arrival of the PWHL signals not just more teams, but more women in leadership \u2014 as coaches, executives and decision-makers across sports franchises.<\/p>\n \u201cI look forward to breaking other barriers,\u201d she said. \u201cA female head coach in Major League Soccer, in hockey, in baseball, in the NBA.\u201d<\/p>\n And, Chastain added, \u201cI want it to be done here in the Bay Area first.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/span><\/div>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/cdn.kqed.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2026\/05\/PWHLSJ3.jpg\")