Field of Schemes
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January 18, 2008

Santa Clara starts stadium talks with 49ers

As expected, the Santa Clara city council voted this week to enter into negotiations with the San Francisco 49ers to build a $916 million stadium, $136 million of which (or $171 million, depending on who's counting) would come from city coffers. "It's not about football; it's not about the 49ers, it's not about being a fan," Mayor Patricia Mahan told the council. "It's really about the fulfillment of a dream, a vision of past city councils of a future Santa Clara." Do we really want to go there?

The negotiations should be interesting, to say the least: The proposal has a $51 million budget hole; the city wants the 49ers to pay rent for the land and the team says it won't; and the leaseholders of the land, Great America amusement park, have been dead set against a stadium landing in their parking lot unless they're reimbursed for lost revenue. And even if all those issues are resolved, there's still the Santa Clara voting populace, who will get to approve or reject whatever plan the council comes up with, likely in November. In other words, to turn to the sort of painful football terminology that newspapers like to employ, this is just the kickoff, not the two-minute warning.

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