Some interesting developments in recent days with respect to the new 68,000+ seat stadium being built in Santa Clara to house the San Francisco 49ers. The team has now made a deal with the city of San Francisco to escape their lease with Candlestick Park early (in 2014), that will send $5.3 million the city's way (from the team), along with a pact to give Candlestick workers first dibs on jobs at the new stadium in South Bay. This is all part of an overarching plan to bring Super Bowl 50 to the new stadium.
49ers team spokesman Steve Weakland talked about the decision to include the City of San Francisco in the pitch process.
"Having San Francisco be a part of the first Super Bowl that comes back to the Bay Area is appropriate because we are the San Francisco 49ers. It's got a tremendous legacy with the team and a partnership that is going to continue from here on out. We will continue to be the San Francisco 49ers."
Some officials in Santa Clara aren't so happy with this situation.
"Part of the pitch for doing the stadium was the tremendous revenue that would be generated by a Super Bowl," said Santa Clara Councilwoman Jamie McLeod, a stadium critic. "My assumption if it's an exclusive partnership between the city of San Francisco and the team to bring the Super Bowl in, then the city of San Francisco will receive most of the benefits."
It will be interesting to see what comes of these latest developments.
To talk about the possibility of the 49ers leaving Candlestick Park early, head on over to Niners Nation.