SAP Center at San Jose (formerly San Jose Arena, Compaq Center at San Jose and HP Pavilion at San Jose) is an indoor arena located in San Jose, California. Its primary tenant is the San Jose Sharks of the National Hockey League, for which the arena has earned the nickname "The Shark Tank". It is also the home to the San Jose Barracuda of the American Hockey League.
Maps, Directions, and Place Reviews
History
Plans for a San Jose arena began in the mid-1980s, when a group of local citizens formed Fund Arena Now (FAN). The group contacted city officials and pursued potential sponsors and partners NHL and NBA. In the late 1980s, mayor Tom McEnery met with FAN and a measure to allocate local taxes for arena construction came up for a public vote on June 7, 1988, and passed by a narrow margin.
Construction began in 1991. Soon after the NHL granted an expansion franchise to San Jose, it was discovered that the arena would not be suitable for NBA or NHL use as originally designed. The Sharks requested an upgrade to NHL standards, including the addition of luxury suites, a press box and increased seating capacity. The arena was completed in 1993 under the name San Jose Arena.
In 2001, naming rights were sold to Compaq, and it was renamed Compaq Center at San Jose. After HP purchased Compaq in 2002, the arena was renamed HP Pavilion, the same name as one of its computer models. It was announced in late April 2007 that the HP Pavilion at San Jose would be receiving several building improvements, including a new center-hung LED video display system from Daktronics similar to that of the TD Banknorth Garden, home of the Boston Bruins of the NHL.
In June 2013, German software company SAP (co-founded by Sharks managing partner Hasso Plattner, who is also SAP's chairman of the board) purchased the naming rights to the facility in a five-year deal worth $3.35 million per year. The arena was renamed "SAP Center at San Jose" following the approval of the San Jose City Council.
San Jose Sharks Stadium Seating Video
Events
In 2006, the SAP Center sold the most tickets (633,435) to non-sporting events of any venue in the Western United States, and the fourth highest total in the world, after Madison Square Garden in New York City (USA), the Manchester Evening News Arena in Manchester (UK), and the Air Canada Centre in Toronto (Canada).
Other events hosted at the arena include the 1996 United States Figure Skating Championships, the 47th National Hockey League All-Star Game in 1997, the 1999 NCAA Women's Final Four, ArenaBowl XVI in 2002, the 2007 USA Gymnastics Visa Championships, and UFC 139 on November 19, 2011. Intel Extreme Masters Season IX - San Jose in 2014 and Intel Extreme Masters Season X - San Jose were held at venue. Prior to Super Bowl 50 in nearby Santa Clara, the arena housed introductory media activities for the event. The SAP Center hosted games 3, 4, and 6 of the 2016 Stanley Cup Finals, with the cup being presented to the Pittsburgh Penguins in game 6.
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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