HP Pavilion

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This article is about the sports arena. For information about the line of computers from Hewlett-Packard, see HP Pavilion (computer)

The HP Pavilion, commonly called The Shark Tank or just The Tank after its primary tenant or less often as San Jose Arena after its former name, is an indoor arena located at 525 West Santa Clara Street in San Jose, California.

Named after the computer company Hewlett-Packard in a naming rights arrangement, the HP Pavilion houses the following sports teams:

NHL - Ice Hockey - San Jose Sharks
NLL - Lacrosse - San Jose Stealth
AFL - Arena Football - San Jose SaberCats

The arena opened in 1993 as the San Jose Arena. Before the building changed its original name because of corporate sponsorship, Sharks radio play-by-play broadcaster Dan Rusanowsky always referred to it as the "spectacular" San Jose Arena. Later, 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 after its product.

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 Lasers of the ABL. It has also been used 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, the Dew Action Sports Tour, and the SAP Open men's tennis tournament.

The arena is one of the most active NHL venues. Of the current arenas in the league, "The Tank" is one of the more intimate and arguably, the noisest hockey venue since the Chicago Stadium. It hosts an average of 190 events a year, including many non-sporting events. For the nine month period ending September 30, 2004, the HP Pavilion sold the most tickets to non-sporting events of any venue in the United States, and the third highest in the world. HP Pavilion has had problems with the quality of the ice during Sharks games due to the mild, moist air in San Jose.

The arena has also hosted it's share of wrestling events, in particular WWE. WWE (then known as the WWF) hosted the 1998 Royal Rumble and in 2001 hosted WWE's (then known as WWF) summer event SummerSlam. In 2007, it will host WWE Judgment Day.

Notable events hosted at HP Pavilion

January 18, 1997 - 47th National Hockey League All-Star Game
January 18, 1998 - WWF Royal Rumble
August 19, 2001 - WWF SummerSlam - remembered as the night The Rock defeated Booker T to win the WCW Championship.
March 10, 2006 - SVE: Frank Shamrock vs. Cesar Gracie - HP Pavilion hosted the largest recorded audience for a mixed martial arts event. Attendance was reported at 18,265 people. The prior record was 14,562.[link].

Trivia

The HP Pavilion was the site of the fictional 2006 Democratic National Convention in the television series The West Wing.

The HP Pavilion was the site for a few scenes in the movie EdTV.

External links

Current arenas in the National Hockey League
Eastern Conference		Western Conference
Air Canada Centre \| BankAtlantic Center \| Bell Centre \| Continental Airlines Arena \| HSBC Arena \| Madison Square Garden \| Mellon Arena \| Nassau Coliseum \| Philips Arena \| RBC Center \| St. Pete Times Forum \| Scotiabank Place \| TD Banknorth Garden \| Verizon Center \| Wachovia Center		American Airlines Center \| Arrowhead Pond \| Gaylord Entertainment Center \| GM Place \| Glendale Arena \| HP Pavilion \| Joe Louis Arena \| Nationwide Arena \| Pengrowth Saddledome \| Pepsi Center \| Rexall Place \| Savvis Center \| Staples Center \| United Center \| Xcel Energy Center

Current arenas in the Arena Football League
American Conference		National Conference
Allstate Arena \| Delta Center \| Gaylord Entertainment Center \| HP Pavilion \| Pepsi Center \| Staples Center \| Thomas & Mack Center \| US Airways Center \| Van Andel Arena		American Airlines Center \| Frank Erwin Center \| Kemper Arena \| Nassau Coliseum \| Nationwide Arena \| Philips Arena \| St. Pete Times Forum \| TD Waterhouse Centre \| Wachovia Center¹ \| Wachovia Spectrum²
¹The Philadelphia Soul play Sunday home games only at the Wachovia Center. ²The Philadelphia Soul play Saturday home games only at the Wachovia Spectrum.

Current arenas in the National Lacrosse League

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