The San Jose Sharks Extend Their Lease Through 2025

The City of San Jose and the San Jose Sharks have come to an agreement that will guarantee the Sharks continue to play at the SAP Center until at least 2025. The agreement also allows for annual extensions that can continue all the way up until the year 2040. I don't think anyone expected them to go elsewhere, but now this cements the team in San Jose for at least another decade. By then, perhaps it will be time to build a newer arena in Downtown San Jose.

Source: Bleacher Report

WWE Hall of Fame Presale

Wrestlemania is taking place at Levi's Stadium this year, but most of the supporting events are actually taking place in Downtown San Jose. Through the end of today, you can snag some presale tickets for the WWE Hall of Fame at the SAP Center using the code TEAMSJ. To get your tickets just head over here.

Huge E-Sports Event Coming to San Jose

One of the largest "e-sports" events ever to take place in the US is coming to San Jose. The Intel Extreme Masters tournament will host up to 18,000 people on Dec. 6-7 at the SAP Center. Instead of watching a Sharks game, visitors will watch teams competing in League of Legends and StarCraft video game competitions. You are probably asking yourself the same question I did... "is there really enough demand for 18,000 people to come watch others play video games?" Twitch--a site that streams people playing video games and tournaments--claims that it will stream the tournament live to an estimated 4.5 million viewers. Wow.

Given we are in the middle of Silicon Valley, San Jose should become a video game mecha. There is a real opportunity here, especially given how popular e-ports apparently are becoming. For more info on the Extreme Masters tournament, check out the website over here.

Source: SiliconBeat

HP Pavilion will be Renamed SAP Center

Software giant SAP is going to be taking over naming rights for the HP Pavilion, which was previously the Compaq Center and the San Jose Arena before that. The founder of SAP happens to be the majority owner of the Sharks, so it makes sense. The city is going to receive $1.675 million each year for the five year term of the contract and the Sharks will receive an equal amount.

I have to be honest, I'm not a huge fan of the name. Instead of calling it "S-A-P" Center, I can see people calling it the "sap" Center. What is the urban dictionary definition of a sap?  

A fool; someone who is prone to being taken advantage of, or who has been taken advantage of, usually in a situation that is easily perceived by others as foolhardy.

So based on branding implications alone, I prefer the HP Pavilion. I think I'll just continue to call it the Shark Tank or San Jose Arena for now. What do you guys think?

Source: The Merc

HP Pavilion is Getting Local Eats

It looks like the HP Pavilion is finally shedding some of its generic food booths and replacing them with vendors based in Silicon Valley. The four confirmed vendors moving in are Sonoma Chicken Coup (San Jose), Armadillo Willy's (Los Altos), Frost Cupcake Factory (Campbell), and Amici's Pizza (San Mateo). Three of those might be in business by October 8th, just in time for the Sharks season opener.

For more information, click here.

Dane Cook @ HP Pavilion, Sun 5/31

Here's the news release:

Fresh on the heels of the announcement of his Comedy Central special and comedy album, ISolated INcident, comedian Dane Cook has now announced plans to take his material on the road with the ISolated INcident - Global Thermo Comedy Tour. Touted as the largest comedy tour in history, Cook will travel within the US, Canada, Africa, Brazil, Australia, UK and Germany.

Tickets range from $30 to $100 and can be purchased here!