San Jose city council approves deal to keep the Sharks in the city until 2051

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San Jose city council approves deal to keep the Sharks in the city until 2051

2025-08-27 10:28 Last Updated At：10:40

SAN JOSE, Calif (AP) — The San Jose City Council unanimously approved a deal Tuesday to renovate the Sharks' arena and keep the team in the city until 2051.

Mayor Matt Mahan and all 10 council members approved the deal that commits the city to investing $325 million to upgrade the 32-year-old SAP Center owned by the city with team owner Hasso Plattner contributing an additional $100 million. Plattner has already invested more than $100 million on arena upgrades over the last decade.

The agreement would also penalize the Sharks if they left the city before the lease expires on June 30, 2051.

The Sharks and the city of San Jose will also begin planning for a new arena by September 2027.

The Sharks began as a franchise in 1991 and moved into their arena in downtown San Jose in 1993.

“The Sharks have been proud to play in San Jose for the last 30-plus years and look forward to another 25 more,” team president Jonathan Becher said. “While we have consistently invested our own funds to maintain the city-owned SAP Center and intend to continue doing so, this partnership with the City of San Jose will bring much-needed renovations and improvements for arena guests, the teams, and performers.”

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A South Korean court sentences Yoon to 5 years in prison on charges related to martial law decree

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — A South Korean court sentenced former President Yoon Suk Yeol to five years in prison Friday in the first verdict from eight criminal trials over the martial law debacle that forced him out of office and other allegations.

Yoon was impeached, arrested and dismissed as president after his short-lived imposition of martial law in December 2024 triggered huge public protests calling for his ouster.

The most significant criminal charge against him alleges that his martial law enforcement amounted to a rebellion, and the independent counsel has requested the death sentence in the case that is to be decided in a ruling next month.

In Friday's case, the Seoul Central District Court sentenced Yoon for defying attempts to detain him, fabricating the martial law proclamation and sidestepping a legally mandated full Cabinet meeting.

Yoon has maintained he didn’t intend to place the country under military rule for an extended period, saying his decree was only meant to inform the people about the danger of the liberal-controlled parliament obstructing his agenda. But investigators have viewed Yoon’s decree as an attempt to bolster and prolong his rule, charging him with rebellion, abuse of power and other criminal offenses.

Judge Baek Dae-hyun said in the televised ruling that imposing “a grave punishment” was necessary because Yoon hasn’t shown remorse and has only repeated “hard-to-comprehend excuses.” The judge also restoring legal systems damaged by Yoon’s action was necessary.

Yoon, who can appeal the ruling, hasn’t immediately publicly responded to the ruling. But when the independent counsel demanded a 10-year prison term in the case, Yoon’s defense team accused them of being politically driven and lacking legal grounds to demand such “an excessive” sentence.

Prison sentences in the multiple, smaller trials Yoon faces would matter if he is spared the death penalty or life imprisonment at the rebellion trial.

Park SungBae, a lawyer who specializes in criminal law, said there is little chance the court would decide Yoon should face the death penalty in the rebellion case. He said the court will likely issue a life sentence or a sentence of 30 years or more in prison.

South Korea has maintained a de facto moratorium on executions since 1997 and courts rarely hand down death sentences. Park said the court would take into account that Yoon’s decree didn’t cause casualties and didn’t last long, although Yoon hasn’t shown genuine remorse for his action.