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The SAP Center at San Jose (formerly San Jose Arena, Compaq Center at San Jose and HP Pavilion at San Jose) is an American indoor arena, located in San Jose, California. Its primary tenant is the San Jose Sharks of the National Hockey League, and the arena has been nicknamed the "Shark Tank".
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 and was delayed after the San Jose 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.
In early 2014, pop superstar Miley Cyrus performed in the arena during her Bangerz World Tour making it the third time she performed in the arena since her first performance on November 4, 2007 during her Best of Both Worlds Tour. On September 20, 2009, Cyrus returned to the arena during her popular Wonder World Tour with a crowd of 13,100 people grossing $835,071.
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). The SAP Center hosted events for WWE such as the 1998 Royal Rumble and the 2001 SummerSlam. 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."