Do The San Jose Sharks Need A New Stadium Built?

Just when you think you’ve seen it all, something new comes up. We’ve seen NHL games delayed because of power outages. We’ve seen NHL games delayed because the glass around the ice need to be replaced. What we saw Monday afternoon in San Jose was a first.

During the New Jersey Devils matchup against the San Jose Sharks, play was stopped with 3:59 left in the first period. There was a problem with the door along the rink boards that opens to allow the ice crew and Zambonis to come onto the ice. The crowd was told that the issue would take around 30 minutes to fix as players went off to their locker rooms.

The NHL’s website officially lists the delay as an “early intermission start” with 3:59 remaining. “Early intermission end” is also listed at 3:59 of the first. The NHL counted that half-hour delay as the first intermission but kept the game technically in three 20-minute periods. After the door was fixed, the teams returned to the ice to play the final 3:59 of the period (hence why 3:59 was listed as both the start and end of the “early intermission).

The SAP Center is one of the NHL’s oldest arenas, surprisingly. Should the San Jose Sharks get a new shark tank?

Once that 3:59 ended, the first period officially came to a close. Players remained at the benches as the ice crew cleaned the ice and both teams switched attacking sides. As soon as that was done, the second period officially began. It was a weird solution but worked out well since the unusual delay happened near the end of a period.

It may seem like a minor footnote, but maybe the SAP Center at San Jose is starting to show its age. While I’ve never personally been to the SAP Center, friends have compared it to the Devils’ dated old home arena at the Meadowlands. SAP Center is known to have narrow concourses, just like the Meadowlands Arena, but also the Orlando Magic’s old arena of Amway Arena. When the Magic moved to their new arena Amway Center, one of the things they specifically designed was wider concourse areas.

Built in 1993, it’s currently tied for third-oldest arena in the NHL with Honda Center, the home of the Anaheim Ducks. The only two arenas older are Madison Square Garden and the Calgary Saddledome, which has been the center of numerous replacement and renovation controversies that never come to fruition. Madison Square Garden has been heavily renovated in its lifetime to keep it up to date, so it does not serve as a useful comparison.

Is it time for the Sharks to build a new home as they rebuild their team? The Sharks might get arena envy from their NBA neighbors, the Golden State Warriors, who moved into the nearby Chase Center in 2019. Then again, the Chase Center’s price tag of $1.4 billion might scare away any ideas of a new ‘shark tank”. The Warriors’ previous arena, Oakland Arena, was more than three decades older than SAP Center.

Outdated arenas are also a frequent excuse for bad attendance numbers. When the Sharks are good, they have no problem selling tickets. The team averaged over 17,000 fans per game every season except two from 2006-2020. The, unfortunately, cut-short 2019-2020 could be considered the unofficial start of the Sharks’ rebuild, and they averaged 16,428. The past two seasons, the first two with fans allowed since 2020, saw the Sharks average 12,574 fans in 2021-2022 and 13.943 this past season.

That makes the past two seasons the lowest attended in the Sharks’ history at their current home (in their first two years, the team played at a smaller venue with a capacity of only 13,550 called the Cow Palace). A new arena may bring in fans. Then again, so would a winning hockey team. Wouldn’t it be great if the Sharks could get a new arena to coincide with a return to contention like the Arizona Coyotes are hoping with their Tempe proposal?

Until the SAP Center is holding the Sharks back, we wouldn’t expect any major moves. The Zamboni door breaking was an oddity that’s unlikely to be repeated. Even if it’s not new and fancy, the SAP Center is still in good shape. Well, at least it’s in much better shape than the Calgary Saddledome (sorry, Calgary Flames fans), and it’s not a college arena (here’s looking at you, Coyotes.)