Plans for a San Jose arena began in the mid-1980s, when a group of local citizens formed Fund Arena Now (FAN). The group contacted city officials and pursued potential sponsors and partners from the NHL and NBA. In the late 1980s, mayor Tom McEnery met with FAN, and subsequently a measure to allocate local taxes for arena construction came up for a public vote on June 7, 1988, passing by a narrow margin.

In 1991, soon after construction began, the NHL granted an expansion franchise to San Jose. After it was discovered that the arena would not be suitable for NBA or NHL use as originally designed, the Sharks requested an upgrade to NHL standards, including the addition of luxury suites, a press box, and increased seating capacity.

In 1993, the arena was completed and initially named the "San Jose Arena".

For the 1996–97 NBA season, the arena served as home to the Golden State Warriors while their regular home court in Oakland (now known as Oakland Arena) was under renovation.

In 2001, naming rights were sold to Compaq, and it was renamed "Compaq Center at San Jose" (not to be confused with the Compaq Center (formerly The Summit) in Houston, Texas). After HP purchased Compaq in 2002, the arena was renamed "HP Pavilion", the same name as one of its computer models.

In late April 2007, it was announced that the HP Pavilion at San Jose would be receiving several building improvements, including a new center-hung LED video display system from Daktronics similar to that of the TD Garden, home of the Boston Bruins of the NHL.

In June 2013, German software company SAP (co-founded by Sharks managing partner Hasso Plattner, who is also SAP's chairman of the board) purchased the naming rights to the facility in a five-year deal worth US$3.35 million per year. The arena was renamed "SAP Center at San Jose" upon approval by the San Jose City Council.

🏟️