Valley View Casino Center The San Diego Sports Arena ( formerly iPayOne Center from 2004 – 2007 ) is an indoor arena located on Sports Arena Blvd in Point Loma , San Diego , California off of Interstate 8 . The arena was built in 1966 by Robert Breitbard , a local football hero who played for Hoover High School and San Diego State University , for " a modest " $ 6 . 4 million dollars . The arena opened on November 17 , 1966 when more than 11 , 000 pro hockey fans watched the San Diego Gulls ( then a member of the Western Hockey League ) win their season opener , 4 – 1 , against the Seattle Totems . The arena seats 12 , 000 for arena football , 12 , 920 for ice hockey , 14 , 500 for basketball and tennis , 5 , 450 for amphitheater concerts and stage shows , between 8 , 900 and 14 , 800 for arena concerts , 13 , 000 for ice shows and the circus , and 16 , 100 for boxing and wrestling . Naming rights . The venue ' s original name was the ' San Diego International Sports Center ' . The name was later renamed the ' San Diego Sports Arena which it kept until 2004 . In the latter year , and until 2007 , iPayOne , a real estate savings company based in Carlsbad , California , held the arena ' s naming rights . The deal was worth $ 2 . 5 million over five years . On April 8 , 2007 , Ernie Hahn II , CEO of Arena Group 2000 which holds the leasing rights to the property , announced that AG2000 has defaulted Ipayone out of the remainder of the contract for non payment . According to Hahn , iPayOne has been in and out of default in payments - mostly balloon payments - in the last year . In addition , iPayOne appears to be halting operations and is accepting no new listings . As a result , the name was changed back to the San Diego Sports Arena while Hahn seeks a new naming rights sponsor . Redevelopment . Between 1995 and 2006 , the arena was the home venue to the San Diego Gulls of the ECHL and the San Diego Riptide of the AF2 , but both franchises folded . The Gulls franchise majority owner was Arena Group 2000 LP , a private company which is also the current arena leaseholder . When the team was disbanded - and not sold - there was local speculation regarding the company ' s closely - held secret intentions for the property . Many outsiders suspected implosion of the Arena and redevelopment of the property , as redevelopment of this chunk of real estate had supposedly been a prime motivation for Ron Hahn ( of the Hahn Company ) when he first took an interest in this property in 1991 . Future Development will depend on the City of San Diego and the vision that both they and AEG have for sports and entertainment in San Diego . The venue continues to host 20 – 25 concerts each year and in 2007 hosted 35 concerts ranging from Justin Timberlake to Eric Clapton . Other San Diego venues , like Cricket Amphitheater ( formerly Coors Amphitheatre ) , an outdoor concert venue of the typical amphitheater / lawn configuration located south of downtown San Diego , just north of Mexico in Chula Vista , Viejas Arena ( formerly Cox Arena ) at San Diego State University ( on the eastern edge of the city ) , Soma ( which is a modest nightclub that brings in quality acts despite being smaller than the midsized venues of Fourth and B , The House of Blues , Humphries , or Anthology , and worth mentioning because of its location in the same Loma Portal / Midway neighborhood as the arena ) , and the myriad Casinos that pepper the outskirts of San Diego County are becoming exceedingly popular destinations for musical events as well . The San Diego Sports Arena remains the only ice arena facility in San Diego County , and hosts annual skating events such as Stars on Ice and Disney on Ice with Feld Entertainment twice each year . The facility is the only arena in San Diego that has a group sales department and for this reason hosts almost all of the major family shows to come to San Diego like the Harlem Globetrotters , Sesame Street Live and Ringling Brothers Barnum and Bailey Circus each year . The arena also serves as a home court for the L . A . Lakers in a preseason NBA game each Fall . The property continues to derive income from the Kobey ' s Swap Meet , held every weekend in the west end of the parking lot which attracts over one million people annually . The Boston Bruins , whose home ice was of the same dimensions , used the San Diego Gulls as a farm team in the 1960s and 1970s . The San Diego hockey fans , of the WHA ( World Hockey Association - San Diego Mariners ) came to the San Diego Sports Arena in 1974 .