Editing San Jose Sharks (section)

===Formation===
Professional ice hockey in the Bay Area can be traced to the [[San Francisco Shamrocks (PCHL)|San Francisco Shamrocks]] of the [[Pacific Coast Hockey League]] (PCHL) from 1944 to 1950. The Sharks origins began with the [[San Francisco Seals (ice hockey)|San Francisco Seals]] of the [[Western Hockey League (1952–1974)|Western Hockey League]] (WHL) when they were awarded an expansion franchise for San Francisco on April 23, 1961, to former [[Vancouver Canucks]] owner Coleman (Coley) Hall, on the condition that an ice surface would be installed in the [[Cow Palace]]. The Seals won three WHL championships and were renamed to the California Seals in 1966, playing their games at the [[Oakland Coliseum Arena]].

The following season, the [[California Golden Seals]] joined the NHL, played their seasons from 1967 to 1976, who were neither successful on the ice nor at the box office. [[Gordon Gund|Gordon]] and [[George Gund III]] became minority owners of the Seals in 1974, and were instrumental in their move to [[Cleveland Barons (NHL)|Cleveland]] in 1976 and a 1978 merger with the [[Minnesota North Stars]], which they purchased that year. They had long wanted to bring ice hockey back to the Bay Area, and asked the NHL for permission to move the North Stars there in the late 1980s, but the league vetoed the proposed move. Meanwhile, a group led by former [[Hartford Whalers]] owner [[Howard Baldwin]] was pushing the NHL to bring a team to [[San Jose, California|San Jose]], where a new arena was being built. Eventually, the League struck a compromise: the Gunds would sell their share of the North Stars to Baldwin's group, with the Gunds receiving an expansion team in the Bay Area to begin play in the [[1991–92 NHL season|1991–92 season]] and being allowed to take a certain number of players from the North Stars to their new club.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Cameron|first=Steve|title=Feeding Frenzy! The Wild New World of the San Jose Sharks|pages=29–38|year=1994|publisher=Taylor Publishing Co.}}</ref> In return, the North Stars would be allowed to participate as an equal partner in [[1991 NHL dispersal and expansion drafts|an expansion draft]] with the new Bay Area team. On May 5, 1990, the Gunds officially sold their share of the North Stars to Baldwin and were awarded a new team for the Bay Area, based in San Jose. The owners paid to the league an expansion fee of US$45&nbsp;million<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.reviewjournal.com/sports/golden-knights-nhl/cost-of-nhl-expansion-team-goes-from-2-million-to-500-million/ |title=Cost of NHL expansion team goes from $2&nbsp;million to $500&nbsp;million |author=Steve Carp |work=Las Vegas Review-Journal |date=June 22, 2016}}</ref> and the new franchise was approved on May 9.<ref name="NHLRecords">{{cite web |url=https://records.nhl.com/franchises/san-jose-sharks/year-by-year-record |title=San Jose Sharks year-by-year records |publisher=National Hockey League|access-date=January 30, 2020}}</ref>

Over 5,000 potential names were submitted by mail for the new team. While the first-place finisher was "Blades", the Gunds were concerned about the name's potentially negative association with weapons, and went with the runner-up, "Sharks."<ref>{{Cite book|title=The Name Game: Football, Baseball, Hockey & Basketball How Your Favorite Sports Teams Were Named |last=Donovan |first=Michael Leo |year=1997 |publisher=Warwick Publishing |location=[[Toronto]] |isbn=1-895629-74-8}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|last1=Ledra|first1=Cristina|last2=Pickens|first2=Pat|title=NHL team nicknames explained|url=https://www.nhl.com/news/nhl-team-nickname-origins-explained/c-283976168?tid=277548856|publisher=National Hockey League|access-date=November 30, 2016|date=November 23, 2016}}</ref> The name was said to have been inspired by the large number of [[shark]]s living in the Pacific Ocean. Seven varieties live there, and one area of water near the Bay Area is known as the "[[Red Triangle (Pacific Ocean)|red triangle]]" (hence the triangle in the team's logo) because of its shark population.

Matt Levine—the team's first marketing head—said of the new name, "Sharks are relentless, determined, swift, agile, bright and fearless. We plan to build an organization that has all those qualities."<ref>{{cite news| first = Tom | last = Gilmore | title = Sharks Are Coming – NHL Team Named | url = http://web.lexis-nexis.com.libaccess.sjlibrary.org/universe/document?_m=fccc7f884e0eea47adea8b44bf909307&_docnum=3&wchp=dGLzVzz-zSkVA&_md5=4f5b19352645ced32382b044849609ed | work = The San Francisco Chronicle | publisher = The Chronicle Publishing Co. | page = D1 | date =September 7, 1990 | access-date =April 21, 2007}}</ref>