The City of San Jose is set to agree a new five-year naming rights deal with SAP for the home arena of National Hockey League (NHL) franchise the Sharks, according to the San Jose Mercury News.
The newspaper said that city officials had finalised a deal with the German software giant, whose founder is also the San Jose Sharks’ majority owner, Hasso Plattner.
The arena is currently known as the HP Pavilion at San Jose under a naming rights agreement with computer manufacturer Hewlett-Packard.
However, HP's chief executive, Meg Whitman, was reported to be seeking an early exit from the deal and an agreement has now been reached between Hewlett-Packard, San Jose Arena Management and the city to terminate the current contract and approve a new five-year deal with SAP to rename the arena SAP Center at San Jose.
The city will receive $1.675m (€1.3m) annually for a total of $8.375m over the term of the new deal. Under the current agreement, HP is paying $3.25m per year for the naming rights through to 2015, with the proceeds being split between the city, which owns the arena, and the Sharks.
Mayoral spokeswoman Michelle McGurk said: “My understanding is it's pretty much the same as what the deal has been with HP, just a different name and continuing it a couple additional years.”
The $162.5m arena opened in 1993 and underwent a $16.5m redevelopment in 2007.