The San Jose Sharks call the SAP Center home. The arena was first opened in 1993 but it had been designed for far longer than this number implies.
Table of Contents
Arena Guide by Ice Hockey Tripper
History
The city of San Jose first started with the design for the arena in the mid-1980s. At the time it was simply a design and request from a separate group known as FAN which stood for Fund Arena Now, a pretty fitting name. Eventually the mayor gave some time to list to this group and actually allocated for taxes to be diverted to a fund with the arena in mind. Eventually creating the arena was put up on the city board to vote where it actually barely passed.
In 1991 the arena was first constructed when the NHL granted an expansion team to the city, but there were issues with the design from the get go. Since the original designs were simply from a separate private organization, they did not really take the time to look at the NHL or NBA compliance requirements for an arena. It was soon found, during construction, that the arena was not suited for either sports which required that the design for the arena had to be updated during the construction itself. After these updates the arena was finally completed in 1993, so it is around the average age of the other NHL arenas. It has gone under quite a few name changes though since it was originally completed. In addition to these name changes it has also received general improvements in the building such as a brand new video display system. Besides the NHL and general history of the foundation of the arena, MMA has played a big role in the history of the arena as well. It is safe to say that this arena has one of the more interesting histories amongst the NHL arenas.