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HP Pavilion to be renamed SAP Center for 2013-14 season

Regardless of the corporate sponsor emblazoned on the front of the building, the Sharks’ home arena will forever be known to the fanbase as the Shark Tank. Except it will now officially be known as the SAP Center following HP’s termination of their deal with ownership. NBC Bay Area reports:

According to the San Jose mayor’s office, the San Jose Sharks have come to a five year agreement with SAP. The payments are split between the city of San Jose, which owns the building, and the San Jose Sharks hockey team. The annual payment to the San Jose will be $1,675,000, with total revenue of $8,375,000 over five years, according to the city. The change is subject to approval by the San Jose City Council, which is expected Wednesday.

It’s no coincidence that SAP scooped up the naming rights, given that the German software company’s cofounder is Hasso Plattner, who became the majority owner of San Jose Sports & Entertainment, which owns and operates the Sharks and HP Pavilion, earlier this year. It’s also worth noting SAP is technically pronounced as an initialism but don’t expect rival fans to adhere to that pronunciation. At least this is still better than an arena named after Jobing.com.

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