April 25, 2007
49ers stadium now at $854m - sort of
The San Francisco 49ers owners issued their financial plan for a stadium in Santa Clara yesterday, and the estimated price tag was down somewhat, to $854 million. Depending on how you count, that is. An additional $111 million is estimated for "inflation costs," according to the San Jose Mercury News, a number that will "absolutely" change, said Niners CFO Larry MacNeil - though he didn't say whether it would change up or down.
As for how the stadium would be paid for, team officials provided this breakdown:
- A newly formed stadium authority would pay for $330 million of construction costs, using revenues from the stadium itself: ticket and parking taxes, seat licenses, concessions revenues, and naming rights.
- The 49ers and NFL would provide $363 million; it's unclear whether this would be an up-front cash payment or bond payments over time.
- The city of Santa Clara would kick in $160 million, plus an additional $20-30 million to relocate an electrical substation that's currently on the proposed stadium site. In return, the city would get half of all revenues from non-NFL events at the stadium; MacNeil estimated this could amount to $3 million a year in revenue if the city booked 14 or more concerts and college football games, which 1) seems like a reach given how few stadium tours are held each year, and 2) even then would be enough to pay off less than $40 million of the city's stadium costs.
All in all, it doesn't look like too terrible a deal for taxpayers - probably about on a par with New Jersey's New York Jets/Giants deal, which was solidly mediocre from the public's perspective. That said, there are still plenty of details left to be revealed: The Niners would pay cost overruns on the stadium, but what about for land and infrastructure? If the city owns the stadium, does that mean the 49ers don't have to pay property taxes? How exactly will operating costs be paid off - the Merc News reports says "stadium revenues" would be used, but who would be collecting those? - and will the team pay rent? And what about that San Francisco-owned Hetch Hetchy pipeline? As we also learned from the New Jersey deal, a lot can go on in the fine print.
Why not just rebuild the stadium they used to play in back in the 1960's? That was a gorgeous place to play football...
Posted by: J. Mark English on April 25, 2007 09:59 PM
