November 09, 2006

49ers: South Bay, here we come

San Francisco 49ers owner John York has decided to abandon his quest for a new stadium within San Francisco, and instead work on moving the team to Santa Clara, a South Bay city just west of San Jose.

According to the San Jose Mercury News, York issued a statement that while the team would keep the "San Francisco" name, the planned site next to whatever they're calling Candlestick Park these days would be too expensive to outfit with the necessary infrastructure to support a stadium plus residential development. And to think, it only took them nine years to figure this out!

A parking lot across the street from the 49ers offices in Santa Clara had reportedly already been under consideration as a backup stadium site, should the Candlestick Point location fall through. No word on how financing would work for a Santa Clara stadium - San Francisco was reportedly to contribute the $100 million approved in 1997 plus unspecified "infrastructure" costs - but the team said it didn't expect to have the stadium ready by 2012, which would indicate that things are still in the early planning stages.