This past week was an unusually (or maybe not so unusually) busy week for the HP Pavilion as they hosted two Sharks games, two concerts and a football game, all in the space of a few days. Not only did the staff and crew who change over the arena work some serious overtime last week, but the whole downtown benefitted from HP Pavilion being one of the busiest venues in the country.
That means restaurants were busy for Tuesday night’s Bon Jovi concert (which I heard was outstanding this year, capped off by a great opening act, Daughtry), Wednesday and Thursday nights’ Sharks games, Friday night’s Rascal Flatts country concert (someone must be listening to me down at booking headquarters because country fans love to buy merchandise, beer and food), and then Saturday’s Sabercats game.
I attended most of the events listed above and I noticed that many people came early for each of them to eat dinner and have some drinks or coffee before. Usually people bolt out of there afterwards to beat traffic, or get back to their suburban enclaves. It’s like they can’t be there when the clock strikes midnight or their coach will turn back into a pumpkin. But there is a distinct difference when the Sharks win a game, especially a playoff game. People don’t want to go home, and they don’t. You will find places buzzing after Sharks games with plenty of people who have to be up at 6:30am for their day jobs, but they just don’t seem to care. They “hand over the money without even thinking” (to borrow a phrase from the movie Field of Dreams), and as they do, they are helping downtown become what many of us want it to be in the process.
So can our downtown be so fickle and fragile that we tie its success to a fickle and fragile sports team? (See Sunday night’s complete meltdown in Calgary.) Unfortunately, right now, the answer is yes.
Unless the Sharks can find a way to win the Stanley Cup in June and then extend their season into the summer, we need to find other reasons and ways to make people stay. I know we all have to work but we need to continue to build this city into something we want to be a part of, not something we want to flee from.
OK, I’ll admit it, back in the old days I was skeptical about the San Jose Arena, worried about it being a gov’t subsidized boondoggle, another lame attempt to ‘jumpstart’ downtown, etc.
Now, I don’t have the #s in front of me so I really can’t say how well it works out economically, but I really want to put in my 2 cents for the arena as a tremendous *family friendly* destination.
Like many parents, I’m sure, of 10 year old boys, *sports* are huge in our household. And it is hard to put a precise value on the tremendous convenience, diversity, and quality the arena brings to us. The Sharks are great (but pricey) of course but the Stealth and the Sabercats and one-off events like the Harlem Globetrotters completely hit the mark with us. We can bike or scooter to the arena. Restaurants like Poor House Bistro and Amici’s Pizza welcome both adults and kids alike.And the staff/implementation/crowds at the events are always professional, well-behaved, and fun.
We don’t stay downtown afterwards because 10 year olds go to sleep by 10.00 pm. So I wouldn’t judge the success of the arena by crowded bars at midnight. There’s a huge family market in this part of the world (look at the housing stock) and it seems to me the Arena management knows their customers and is responding well.
Go Sharks.
San Jose’s HP Arena and Sharks with their 190 events per year as #7 most attended arena in world ( #3 in US ) is great for local businesses
More important question is ” Is HP Arena good for San Jose’s deficit budget with their very low rent, parking deal and millions tax subsidies?
#3, considering the seating capacity of HP, it’s certainly logical that when there is an event there, even if it’s not a sold out situation, more people are present in the downtown area spending money at local establishments as a result than can be said for any of the venues or events you have described.
SG is making a good point here. The arena has been the single most important addition to the downtown area from an economic standpoint.
Unless the Sharks can find a way to win the Stanley Cup in June and then extend their season into the summer..
How can they extend their season into the summer since, after winning the Stanley Cup, the season is over?
Given all of the activity, why do the Sharks keep claiming that they’re losing money? Why did the city have to chip in to buy new, fancy high-tech scoreboards for the arena? Why doesn’t the city get a proprotional share of the increased ad revenues that the new scoreboards generate?
Go Sharks,
Pete Campbell
SJ Ice Rink pays $2.1 million year
Shoreline pays $1.8 million for 40 events ($45,000 each) and addt’l events are $60,000 each
HP Arena pays $1,625,000 year ($8552 per event )until 2015 and from 1996-2002 paid total $4,475,030 plus keeps all parking fees and gets millions more from city
“Take me out to the ball game!…”
I’ll repeat this ad nauseam until groundbreaking actually occurs in Fremont for Cisco Field; our current city leaders, active and former, should go back to the A’s and Giants to work out a deal for baseball in downtown San Jose. As I’ve said before, it’s not to late, and a 32,000 seat ballpark with at least 81 home dates would do wonders for the core. An NBA team, with an extra 42 home dates of 18,000+ fans, would also augment the Sharks nicely. Lew Wolff and the city appear on the verge of giving SJ soccer advocates what they’ve wanted (see this mornings Merc). Congrats Earthquakes fans! Here’s hoping I (as well as many others) get a “congratulations” one day.
San Jose has the worst downtown in the world since I’ve been to cities in Latin America, Africa, Middle East, Europe, Asia, Canada, and Australia. All the cities there are vibrant and have soul. So, where does that leaves us? The rest of U.S.! Boston, Chicago, Detroit, L.A., Washington, SF, Denver, Pittsburgh, cincinnati, Cleveland, St. Louis, Buffalo, Oakland, Sacramento, Indianapolis, Portland and even Fresno have better than San Jose’s. San Jose’s has no soul and dead most of the time. I’ve travel all around the world and feel sad for San Jose. I guess the losing Shark’s arena will keep downtown up artifically for just few hours.
Anthony, nobody in a leadership position in this town has been willing to take on the Giants, or back when Mr. Lurie was considering moving the Giants here, Diane Finestein. All she had to say was “boo” and SJ ballpark backers were run off for good. It was Lurie’s failed attempt that got us into this territory mess that has now prevented the A’s from moving downtown. Why was the territory decision so easy to accomplish when it served the Giants’ purposes yet is now impossible to undo when it supposedly doesn’t? Something is rotten in Cooperstown or wherever MLB is headquartered.
There’s no question that the ideal situation would be for the A’s to build their ball park in downtown SJ but nobody in charge around here seems willing to take on the big leagues and beat them into submission and allow what would be a financial win/win for the A’s and SJ. Not even Mr. Wolff who is well connected to key MLB decision makers and who would stand to gain more from an SJ park than the one he’s got planned for his accessible-only-by-car location in Fremont. I guess that’s why we’re never going to be a big league town. Our leadership concedes defeat before they’ve even begun to fight for anything worthwhile. So the town without an identity remains adrift in its search for one. Tom got us the arena. I’ll bet if he were in charge again he’d have gotten us a downtown ball park too.
#11
“San Jose has the worst downtown in the world”
How can that be? We have an airport downtown.
All we ever hear is that this makes us a great city, and we need to make it bigger and bigger. That way we can be an even greater city.
The sharks are the most major idenity that the city of san jose has….perhaps we should see what the sharks might need to further their position in the downtown instead of demeaning their playoff performance.lots of cities with hockey teams are not even in the playoffs. Without the sharks there would be no idenity for the san jose core area.
H.P.Pavilion has brought some great shows to our City, big names like Elton John, Paverotti etc. It has been a great venue for our city.
I have herd the Pavilion to be the second busiest in the Country, second only to Madison Square Garden, is this true.
Single Gal, I sugest you broaden your horizons and hang out downtown during cinequest, the summer outdoor concerts, before a play at the Rep or an opera performance, at some of the outdoor cinema series during the summer time, at the jazz festival or tapestry and talent festival, or at the farmers market on fridays. there are plenty of other ways that downtown is vibrant. it is simplistic and plain wrong just to say that downtown is busy, and only busy, when the arena has an event.
SG –
Unlike Bon Jovi, Daughtry or any other concert event at the Tank, the Sharks represent San Jose, thus contributing to the City’s identity and providing fans with a sense of pride. It makes sense people will want to celebrate “their” team’s win. I love a good concert, but sticking around to celebrate seeing a concert just doesn’t have the same appeal.
Furthermore, if downtown does so well before games and events as you suggest, how can it be so fickle and fragile? Is the health and vitality of a downtown only based on its nightlife? I realize your personal basis for determining what makes a vibrant and enjoyable city life is how great the drinking and dancing clubs are, but I would suggest that a city should be judged by more than just its nightlife. San Jose may still fall short, but perhaps there is just slightly more to be evaluated than club hopping?
#5: I think you answered your own question in your post. I didn’t know HP Pavillion was #3 in the US and #7 in the world in attendance. That is fantastic when you think of all the people coming in to San Jose from within the city and around the region 190+ times a year to spend their money and be entertained. With Santa Clara County having the second highest sales tax rate in California, the more sales made to business equals more sales and income tax revenues to local governments. New and expanding businesses all lead to increased property and income taxes an a variety of fees and other taxes. I’ll spare you the further economics lesson, but I believe it is fair to say that San Jose has and will continue to benefit greatly from the HP Pavillion.
GO SHARKS!!
I would like to ask Mr. Hewer where Santa Clara’s downtown is located. It used to be all along a busy Franklin St. from The Alameda to Lincoln. I went to the movies there at the Santa Clara theater as a kid and my parents conducted other business there. It was a lively place. Downtown Santa Clara was entirely leveled in the mid-60’s and never “renewed” per the grand plan that infected far too many cities, including San Jose. Franklin St. was blocked off and the area bounded by Lafayette, Monroe, Benton and Liberty (now Homestead Rd) Streets became a weed patch for about a dozen years, save for the ghost town that is Franklin mall. Given the adjacent Santa Clara University, the old downtown Santa Clara would today be more big time and hopping than the success story that is downtown Campbell—if it still existed.
Absolutely no one who hails from Santa Clara has any room to criticize downtown San Jose. This is a no brainer. Ask anyone where downtown SJ, Campbell, Los Gatos or Mountain View is and they can tell you. Ask them where downtown Santa Clara is and you’ll get a blank stare. The right answer would be, long since buried in a local landfill. Santa Clara still owns the top spot for strangest town in the Bay Area and I don’t see that changing any time soon.
Excellent post Mark T.; could not have said it better myself. Actually, an A’s move to downtown SJ would be a win for the Giants as well. Why, you ask? The Giants are now part owners in Comcast Sportsnet Bay Area (formerly FSN); 30% stake. As the current TV rights holder to the A’s, the Giants are now in position to make money off the A’s, as well as Sharks, Warriors, Sabercats, and Pac 10. Higher TV ratings for all puts more money in the Giants pockets. The Giants now have a similar TV arrangement to the Orioles, who have TV rights over the Nationals (formerly Montreal Expos) for allowing their move to Washington DC. In short, a succesfull A’s franchise is now in the best interest of the Giants. Why not tie the A’s success to your “ideal situation?” GO SHARKS!!!
16: Congratulations in coming up with one counter-example. Case closed.
#16 and 19,
For the record: AT&T Park isn’t located in Union Square, Yankee Stadium isn’t at Times Square, or (as you pointed out) Wrigley Field isn’t located within the Chicago Loop. Some downtowns have been well established for generations with retail, restaurants, high-end residential and overall vibrancy. You can’t compare our core to those of San Francisco, NYC, or Chicago! This all being said, AT&T Park has been instrumental in developing South Beach, Petco Park in developing downtown San Diego/Gaslamp, and Coors Field developing downtown Denver/LoDo. So in short, I disagree completely with your post. In closing, could we all imagine our city center WITHOUT HP Pavilion? Was Downtown Datsun a major draw?
Those who believe Downtown is an embarrassment need a weekend seminar in self-esteem along with some effective medication.
Do the complainers so loathe themselves, that another couple of billion dollars in taxpayer subsidies for Downtown would pull them out of their doldrums?
Do we really believe that we can reverse the public/private partnership dealings in the 50’s and 60’s that spawned City sprawl to the detriment of our Downtown?
Facing an unfathomable budget deficit for as far as the eye can see, I’d favor spending scarce resources on much needed infrastructure improvements and maintenance. I know, I know, spending money on such boring things isn’t glitzy, but it is practical.
Sports teams do not establish the identity of a downtown. I will use Chicago as an example although for most major sports teams, the same can be said. The Cubs are not downtown. The White Sox are not downtown. The Bulls are not downtown. The Blackhawks are not downtown. The Bears are closest but they only have 8 home games a year and those are on Sundays. Yet Chicago has a vibrant downtown. Don’t think that bringing a sports team to San Jose will suddenly make downtown better. Oh, it would bring some business to some restaurants and hotels but is that your definition of improving downtown?
What is it going to take for you people to stop whinning about downtown San Jose. Does there have to be crowds and crowds of people and bumper to bumper traffic to make you happy? We have movie theatres, repatory theatres, off broadway shows, opera, symphonies, bars, restaurants all different sort of events in the winter or summer.
San Jose is a unique place. It has an urban downtown serounded by suburbia. San Jose is a big place. I’m lucky, I live near downtown so I don’t have to travel far to get my urban fix but for others, maybe they don’t want to commute accross San Jose, maybe they want to stay in their own neighborhoods and not have to deal with traffic.
We have Valley Fair, Santana Row, Eastridge, Oakridge. Take a good look at Los Gatos, Palo Alto and Campbell, they only have one stretch of road for their downtown, that’s why they have this vibe it’s the only place in their city to go. Our downtown is way more spacious then that. As far as San Francisco, we’ll never be like them, they were “sin city” since conception.(Heard that from a PBS)
So if you want to blame anyone blame us boring suburbians who are happy and content with just chilling with our families at home.