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 The San Francisco 49ers and the City of Santa Clara are near an agreement to place a 68,500-seat stadium near Great America amusement park, after the Niners have made some concessions that would lessen public subsidy.
The deal, which could occur within the next two weeks, comes as the City of San Francisco has backed off their efforts to keep the team in the city. The deal has been an on-again-off-again affair, and still sees negotiations with Great America in the mix. The amusement park has been against the proposed stadium due to parking and traffic issues that would come with the stadium. As reported by the San Jose Mercury News, the concessions by the Niners appears to have moved the deal closer to reality: While any deal must be ratified by voters — probably in March 2010 — the good news to the city of Santa Clara includes reduction in the city's subsidy of the project and additional rent payments for use of city land. And the city still must solve the problem of appeasing the owners of the Great America theme park located right next to the proposed stadium. But [Santa Clara Mayor Patricia Mahan] is so confident that a deal is near that she said the City Council could sign off on the outlines of a deal as soon as Wednesday — although a council vote could be several weeks off. The mayor also said a recent negotiating visit by City Manager Jennifer Sparacino to Ohio to meet with the corporate owners of Great America could mean an end to the theme park's opposition to use of its parking lots to build the $900 million stadium. Last year, when the city entered into negotiations with the 49ers, it proposed allocating $109 million in redevelopment money and hotel tax receipts toward construction of the stadium. The city also would pay to move an electrical substation and to build a parking garage on Tasman Drive previously approved by the voters. But following the economic meltdown, the 49ers have agreed to a significantly smaller contribution from the city, one that would amount to less than $90 million from redevelopment and hotel tax receipts, sources close to the talks said.
The deal would include the following concessions that have been agreed to in principle by the 49ers: - The 49ers would make a rent payment to the city for the use of city-owned land now leased for Great America's parking lots for the stadium site. The city manager had objected that the original stadium package proposed by the 49ers included no direct payment to the city's general fund.
- The 49ers would agree to cover construction cost overruns through 2013. While the team had already made those guarantees through 2012, the stadium now is not expected to open until the 2013 NFL season.
- While the city would own the stadium, the 49ers would agree to pay for its demolition at the end of its useful life, perhaps 40 years from now.
- The team would agree to cover losses for unprofitable non-NFL events at the stadium.
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