SAP Center at San Jose
| SAP Center at San Jose | |
|---|---|
| The Shark Tank | |
| Former names | San Jose Arena (September 7, 1993 – March 26, 2001)[1] Compaq Center at San Jose (March 27, 2001 – November 30, 2002) HP Pavilion (Dedember 1, 2002 - June 17, 2013) |
| Location | 525 West Santa Clara Street San Jose, California, United States |
| Coordinates | 37°19′58″N 121°54′4″W / 37.33278°N 121.90111°WCoordinates: 37°19′58″N 121°54′4″W / 37.33278°N 121.90111°W |
| Broke ground | June 28, 1990[2] |
| Opened | September 7, 1993 |
| Owner | City of San Jose |
| Operator | San Jose Sports & Entertainment Enterprises |
| Surface | Ice (wood or other flooring can be overlaid) |
| Construction cost | $162.5 million ($258 million in 2013 dollars[3]) |
| Architect | Sink Combs Dethlefs Prodis Associates |
| Project manager | HuntCor[4] |
| Structural engineer | John A. Martin & Associates[5] |
| Services engineer | M-E Engineers, Inc.[6] |
| General contractor | Perini Building Company[4] |
| Capacity | Concerts: 19,190 Basketball: 18,549 Wrestling: 18,300 Ice hockey: 17,190 (1993-1996) 17,442 (1996-1997) 17,483 (1997-2000) 17,496 (2000-2009) 17,562 (2009-present)[7] Tennis: 11,386 |
| Tenants | |
| San Jose Sharks (NHL) (1993–present) San Jose Sabercats (AFL) (1995–2008, 2011–present) Golden State Warriors (NBA) (1994-1995) San Jose Stealth (NLL) (2003–2009) San Jose Grizzlies (CISL) (1994–1995) San Jose Lasers (ABL) (1996-1998) San Jose Rhinos (RHI) (1994–1997) SAP Open (tennis) (1994–2013) |
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The SAP Center at San Jose, formerly known as the HP Pavilion at San Jose, Compaq Center at San Jose, and San Jose Arena is an indoor arena, located at 525 West Santa Clara Street, in San Jose, California, United States.
The arena is also commonly called The Shark Tank or The Tank, both of which come from its primary tenant, the San Jose Sharks of the National Hockey League.
On June 18, 2013, the building was been renamed SAP Center at San Jose, after a new naming agreement was approved by the San Jose City Council.[8]
Contents |
History[edit]
Plans for an arena in San Jose go back to the mid-1980s, when a group of local citizens formed Fund Arena Now (FAN), a group dedicated to getting an indoor arena built in the city. The group spent much of its time pushing city officials to build such a structure while at the same time selling the possibility of the building to interested groups, namely NHL and NBA franchises. In the late 1980s, then-San Jose mayor Tom McEnery met with FAN and helped to make their plans reality. Eventually, a measure was introduced that would allocate local taxes toward building an arena in San Jose's growing downtown, which would be voted on June 7, 1988.[9] The measure passed by a narrow margin: 73,409 to 64,140.[10] The plans for the arena would eventually be one of the reasons that George and Gordon Gund would locate their new Bay Area NHL franchise in San Jose, which would eventually become the San Jose Sharks.
Construction of the arena began in 1991, and was originally slated to open in 1992. The construction ran into a rather sizable delay, however, when the management for the San Jose Sharks realized the arena had been designed for community use, and that it needed a drastic redesign to upgrade the arena to NHL standards. Most notably, the original arena design had no luxury suites or a press box, with the introduction of the former to the original plans would have reduced the arena's seating capacity to 14,000. The time taken to redesign the arena delayed the opening of the building to 1993, forcing the Sharks to play an additional season at the Cow Palace.[11]
The arena opened in 1993 as the San Jose Arena. In 2001, naming rights were sold to Compaq, and the facility became Compaq Center at San Jose; the geographic identifier was needed because at the time, there was a Compaq Center in Houston. After HP purchased Compaq in 2002, the company chose to name the arena the HP Pavilion, a moniker given to the venue after one of HP's prevalent 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 centerhung LED video display system from Daktronics similar to that of the TD Banknorth Garden, home of the Boston Bruins of the NHL.[12]
With the addition of the new video and sound system, the existing control room was transformed into an additional luxury suite. A new video control room was constructed on the lower level of the arena. The sound console was moved to the broadcast pit, joining Sharks TV, Sharks radio, and visiting TV. Visiting radio was moved to an auxiliary location in the catwalk on the bench side of the arena.
SAP has purchased the naming rights to the facility in a five-year deal worth $8.375 million, with the San Jose City Council expected to approve the new name, SAP Center at San Jose, on June 18, 2013.[8]
Tenants[edit]
SAP Center at San Jose houses the San Jose Sharks of the National Hockey League and the San Jose SaberCats of the Arena Football League.
The facility has also been home to the Golden State Warriors of the NBA during reconstruction of the Oakland Coliseum Arena, and the defunct San Jose Rhinos of RHI, San Jose Grizzlies of the CISL and the San Jose Stealth of the National Lacrosse League. From 1994 to 2013, it served as the venue for the annual SAP Open men's tennis tournament.
Other events[edit]
SAP Center hosts an average of 190 events a year, including many non-sporting events. In 2006, the SAP Center sold the most tickets 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, the Manchester Evening News Arena in Manchester, and the Air Canada Centre in Toronto.[13]
It has also played host for other sporting events, such as the U.S. Figure Skating Championships, the NCAA Basketball tournament (known as March Madness), the Pac-10 women's basketball championship, and the Dew Action Sports Tour.
SAP Center hosts the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus every year. Trains are usually parked in nearby Milpitas. However, in 2008, the train was parked on the Vasona Branch.
Notable events hosted at SAP Center[edit]
- January 18–21, 1996 - 1996 United States Figure Skating Championships
- January 18, 1997 - 47th National Hockey League All-Star Game
- January 18, 1998 - WWF Royal Rumble
- March 28, 1999 - 1999 NCAA Women's Final Four
- August 19, 2001 - WWF SummerSlam
- August 18, 2002 - ArenaBowl XVI
- March 10, 2006 - Strikeforce: Shamrock vs. Gracie - Largest recorded audience for a legal mixed martial arts event in California[14]
- March 22–24, 2007 - 2007 NCAA Men's Basketball West Regional
- July 22, 2007 - WWE The Great American Bash
- August 15–18, 2007 - 2007 USA Gymnastics Visa Championships
- March 7, 2009 - Joel Julio vs. James Kirkland
- August 15, 2009 - Strikeforce: Carano vs. Cyborg - First female headlined MMA event
- June 26, 2010 - Strikeforce: Fedor vs. Werdum - Greatest upsets in Mixed Martial Arts history.
- November 19, 2011 - First UFC hosted MMA match at HP Pavilion. UFC 139
- July 11, 2012 - UFC On Fuel TV Munoz Vs. Weidman
Fictitious events[edit]
- April 9, 1998 - Ed, portrayed by Matthew McConaughey, drives a Zamboni at a San Jose Sharks game in the movie EDtv.[15]
See also[edit]
References[edit]
- ^ 2011-2012 San Jose Sharks Media Guide
- ^ "Carry Me Back to the Old Sod". San Jose Mercury News. June 17, 1990. p. 2C. Retrieved September 14, 2011.
- ^ Consumer Price Index (estimate) 1800–2012. Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis. Retrieved March 31, 2013.
- ^ a b "Facts & Figures". HP Pavlion at San Jose. Retrieved February 22, 2013.
- ^ "Entertainment Projects". John A. Martin & Associates. Retrieved February 22, 2013.
- ^ "Arenas". M-E Engineers, Inc. Retrieved March 19, 2013.
- ^ Pollak, David (September 10, 2009). "The futility of chasing Marleau-Heatley rumors — plus an economic update from HP Pavilion". San Jose Mercury News. Retrieved September 10, 2009.
- ^ a b "Confirmed: Goodbye, HP Pavilion. Hello, SAP Center". Silicon Valley Business Journal. Jun 5, 2013. Retrieved Jun 5, 2013.
- ^ Purdy, Mark (July 7, 2008). "Arena vote 20 years ago made San Jose a real city". San Jose Mercury News. p. 1A. Retrieved March 19, 2013.
- ^ Cameron, Steve (1994). Feeding Frenzy! The Wild New World of the San Jose Sharks. Taylor Publishing Co. pp. 43, 51–52.
- ^ Cameron, Steve (1994). Feeding Frenzy! The Wild New World of the San Jose Sharks. Taylor Publishing Co. pp. 51–56.
- ^ "HP Pavilion Becoming Tech Testing Lab for Arena Improvements". SportsBusiness Daily. April 17, 2009. Retrieved April 17, 2009.
- ^ "2006 Year End Ticket Sales" (PDF). Pollstar. January 17, 2007. Retrieved June 14, 2007.
- ^ Gross, Josh (March 10, 2006). "Record Crowd Witnesses Legal MMA in California". Sherdog. Retrieved March 19, 2013.
- ^ "EDtv". FilmInAmerica.com. Retrieved August 24, 2008.
External links[edit]
| Events and tenants | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Cow Palace |
Home of the San Jose Sharks 1993 – present |
Succeeded by current |
| Preceded by Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum Arena |
Home of the Golden State Warriors 1996 – 1997 |
Succeeded by The Arena in Oakland |
| Preceded by Fleet Center |
Host of the NHL All-Star Game 1997 |
Succeeded by General Motors Place |
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- Visitor attractions in Silicon Valley
- National Hockey League venues
- Sports venues in the San Francisco Bay Area
- San Jose Sharks arenas
- Ice hockey venues in California
- Indoor ice hockey venues in the United States
- Mixed martial arts venues
- Event venues established in 1993
- Defunct National Basketball Association venues
- Sports venues in San Jose, California
