The quest for a new stadium to house the 49ers has long focused on Santa Clara but the team isn’t putting all their eggs in that basket.
Santa Clara plans require the team to cut land deals with both the city and Cedar Fair, which owns the Great America theme park. The stadium would be built in Great America’s parking lot. The city said they can still go forward without Cedar Fair but it would raise costs because the amusement park is guaranteed parking as part of their deal with the city.
There’s already a spending gap between what the city is willing to put up and what the team says it will cost and any growth in that seems likely to imperil the deal. As does Santa Clara’s request that the team pay rent on any land it occupies. If everything can be worked out in time, the plan would go before the city’s voters in November.
All of that has led the team to seek insurance and/or leverage in other locations. They’re not without their own drawbacks, however.
There’s a July vote in San Francisco about redeveloping the Hunters Point area with a new stadium, housing and commercial space. Proposition G, as it’s known, has been polling well but there’s another Proposition on the ballot which would require the city to use the area for affordable housing. That would negate plans for a stadium.
Recently, the team started discussions with Brisbane, just outside San Francisco, about using a waterfront landfill site for a stadium. The current landowners, Universal Paragon Corp., want to transform the area into a hub of green tech development and told the San Francisco Chronicle that “it’s not really what we envision for the site.”
Seems a lot of trouble to go through for the chance to watch J.T. O’Sullivan fling the pigskin.
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May 16th, 2008 at 12:10 pm
Knowing the voters of SF, this thing will never be built. Hope the city enjoys that “affordable housing” where the stadium should sit.
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May 16th, 2008 at 12:17 pm
Why not try to develop a “green” stadium? Anyway, the current landowners see the property as money, and the tech companies will pay more rent for their land than the stadium most likely.
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May 16th, 2008 at 12:20 pm
If the stadium deal with Santa Clara goes through, it’d provide an excellent venue for a home show for the Santa Clara Vanguard…
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May 16th, 2008 at 12:25 pm
At least you dont even bother trying to hide the fact that you cant stand the 49ers.
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May 16th, 2008 at 12:34 pm
A crying shame that a team such as the San Francisco 49ers a team that has won five Super Bowls and which has a legion of fans can’t get a consensus through to build a new palace… Legendary owner extrodinaire Eddie De Bartolo, Jr. would have done it by now. We miss ya Eddie!
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May 16th, 2008 at 12:36 pm
I would have thought that the San Francisco 49ers*** reputation as cheaters would make it difficult to find suitors for a new stadium!!
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May 16th, 2008 at 12:37 pm
As a San Francisco resident (but not a 49ers or Raiders fan), I can tell you this is a city full of morons. I’ll be shocked if any kind of agreement is reached. I look for this process to drag on long into the future. There are too many special interest involved, all with competing agendas.
I had 49ers season tickets for business purposes, but I let them expire this year because I saw no new stadium in sight. It’s a shame really. The 49ers have a proud history, but Bill Walsh Field at Monster Park at Candlestick Park near San Francisco in the State of California on Planet Earth is a complete joke of a stadium. I feel sorry for 49ers fans. They are being let down by their ownership, the political leaders of San Francisco, and the political leaders of the entire Bay Area. Maybe they should just move the team to LA… Hah!
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May 16th, 2008 at 12:38 pm
who is JT O’Sullivan???
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May 16th, 2008 at 12:38 pm
1 of the main things that came out during the Raiders vs NFL court case is that the NFL depends on publicly subsidized stadiums for profits. In other words, the money goes from taxpayers to the owner’s wallets.
Here in California, state government is looking at some combination of big budget cuts & unpopular tax increases for the forseeable future. No money there. Property taxes are constitutionally restricted to a low level.
The only ways for local government to raise money to fund a new stadium are:
1) Borrow, which has to be approved by the voters
2) Give away the land for a stadium site. In the San Francisco Bay area, there’s not a lot of good stadium sites owned by government that are sitting around unused.
3) Divert the sales taxes from a new shopping center or auto mall to the stadium
Area columnist Steve Corkran threw out the idea of building a new stadium to be shared by the ‘9ers & the Raiders in the parking lot of the Oakland Coliseum. That idea makes a lot of sense, which is, in California, a good reason why it is unlikely to happen.
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May 16th, 2008 at 1:09 pm
The hunters point redevelopment is really the way to go here for the city and the team. “Santa Clara 49ers” sounds gay.
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May 16th, 2008 at 1:53 pm
I’d say the landfill spot would be a perfect fit.. Wait, an OPEN landfill would be a perfect fit..
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May 16th, 2008 at 1:57 pm
They should build a stadium shaped like a Mayan temple with human sacrifices performed at halftime. It will help distract the fans from realizing how badly their team sucks and wondering why they’re paying $9 per beer.
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May 16th, 2008 at 2:13 pm
Maybe they can dig up Kezar Stadium and run it again.
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May 16th, 2008 at 2:25 pm
A stadium in Santa Clara would provide an excellent venue for a home show for the Santa Clara Vanguard.
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May 16th, 2008 at 2:34 pm
How long will it be before the real reason for LA not having a team rears its ugly head? Namely, using the threat of a move to LA to blackmail local officials into building a free stadium for the team.
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May 16th, 2008 at 4:53 pm
Whatever happened to multi-use stadiums? The Padres ball park should have been built to both house the Padres and the Chargers. The SF Giants ball park should have been built to house both the Niners and the SF Giants.
The Seahawks ball park should have been built to house both the Seahawks and the Mariners. If that had happened, then perhaps the Sonics would have gotten their arena in Seattle.
That being said, I firmly believe that if these professional sports insist on charging obscene ticket and gear (team t-shirts, sweatshirts etc.) prices, then they can afford to buy their own land and finance their own stadiums.
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May 16th, 2008 at 6:01 pm
As a preface, I have lived in both SF and the southbay and am currently a resident in the south bay.
Hunters Point site is a joke. Old Navy shipbuilding yard that has tons of chemicals seeped into the soil. It will be a monumental effort to clean that place up for the EPA before anything can be built there.
The Bisbane option mentioned above puts it just scant miles away from where the current stadium “Candlestick” is located……A its on landfill B: thisis earthquake country… C remeber what happened to the Marina Green area of SF during the 89 quake………liquifaction caused major damage + its freezing cold even in summer in that area..
The “Santa Clara” option…..the land is already there and clear once accomodations can be made w/ Great America theme park owners re: comp for parking lot revenue lost………B: its right across street from 49ers training facility anyway….C….mass transit infastructure is already in place w/light rial, roads, ect…and the 101/237 and 880, and 280 freeways are all in relatively close proximity.
Again just my two cents
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May 16th, 2008 at 10:22 pm
I have season tickets for the 49′ers and the Saints. Candlestick is a mess, but it has character. I would hate to see the team move down to Santa Clara. All of the options currently being debated, voted upon and negotiated are all terrible. The only solution would be to build a new stadium in the parking lot right next to the current stadium. There is enough room for it and this has been done in Philadelphia and other places.
On the JT O’Sullivan thing. In the 2000 NFL Draft the Saints chose a quarterback in the 6th. Round with the 168th overall pick. He didn’t make it with the Saints, he was 3rd on the depth chart with his new team. Oh and he did make it to the 2004 Pro Bowl as the quarterback of the Rams (under Mike Martz). The guys name is Marc Bulger.
In the 2002 NFL Draft the Saints chose a quarterback in the 6th. Round with the 186th overall pick. His name is JT O’Sullivan. He is currently 3rd on the 49′ers depth chart. Oh, by the way……Mike Martz is the Niners Offensive Coordinator………. Does O’Sullivan have a chance at the Pro Bowl in the future? Time will tell. I do know that Alex Smith blows!
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May 17th, 2008 at 1:22 am
Waterfront landfill site for stadium? Did You forget about Loma Prieta? Marina District, Quake of 89. Hello!
Who’s JT O Sullivan?
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May 17th, 2008 at 1:37 am
Santa Clara is perfect! However,the people of SANTA CLARA dont want to pay for it.
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May 17th, 2008 at 2:10 am
@SFSAINTSFAN- Nice post… Yes Monster formerly Candelstick Park has alot of character however ,bye half time your putting on a parka…Its to F!@#$%^ Cold.
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