San Jose Downtown Association
28 N. First Street, Suite 1000
San Jose, CA 95113
sjdowntown.com
408.279.1775
Dear Honorable Mayor and City Councilmembers,
On behalf of the San Jose Downtown Association, I am writing to express our strong support for the agreement negotiated between the City of San Jose and San Jose Arena Management, with the goal of upgrading our venerable SAP Center and keeping the Sharks in San Jose.
Statistically it has been shown that the Arena has attracted more than 50 million visitors to San Jose since opening, many from out of the area, and has generated 1.25 billion dollars in economic benefits for the city over the last five years. The Arena is more than a hockey arena with at least 150 events a year, and investment is critical to attracting top tier world class talent to San Jose in our mission to make this a true world class destination.
In reviewing with my team of experts on our advocacy committee which represents all manners of Downtown stakeholders including businesses, landlords and residents that the negotiated deal was noted to be remarkable in its language and structure. The Sharks are one of the few major sports organizations to not own their facility, and Hasso’s investment of 100 million over the previous 10 years and commitment to invest 100 million more into the arena itself, as well as the surrounding community including the SJDA’s Stitching Districts Initiative is remarkable.
Finally, although I firmly believe that comparison is the thief of joy, we would have to look no further than our neighboring cities of San Francisco and Oakland to compare and contrast what the impact is in investing in major venues and sports team will do for a city’s profile and economic impact and what the effect of losing a franchise and not investing in the infrastructure can do.
We have been very fortunate to have partners such as the San Jose Sharks proudly representing the City of San Jose and this agreement should be enthusiastically and unanimously supported by our Council on behalf of all our citizens.
Go Sharks!
Alan “Gumby” Marques
Interim CEO of the San Jose Downtown Association