Field of Schemes
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May 29, 2009

Santa Clara 49ers plan expected today

The city of Santa Clara is expected to issue a "term sheet" tonight for its proposed San Francisco 49ers stadium — all of four days before the city council is scheduled to vote on it — and the San Jose Mercury News notes that past deals in Cincinnati and Indianapolis have ended up with taxpayers holding the bag unexpectedly thanks to overly generous lease terms. "You can't judge a stadium deal by the upfront cost," some stadium blogger and book author told the Merc News. "There was a time when if you were a sports owner and you were going to build a stadium, the subsidy was all upfront. It would just be a check from the legislature for $300 million or something. Now it is far more likely to be buried in the details of the lease."

I'll be reporting back here with my analysis of the term sheet once it's available. If you feel like playing along at home, check the Santa Clara city website starting tonight around 7 pm Pacific time.

COMMENTS

The stadium authority needs to be created before the environmental impact report can be approved (January 2010???). Its governance will consist of the current 7 council members (Patricia M. Mahan, Dominic J. Caserta, Will Kennedy, Kevin Moore, Jamie McLeod, Joe Kornder and Jamie L. Matthews). All but the last 2 will be termed out in either 2010 or 2012. One of their first acts will be to approve a set of bylaws that will include governance rules. They may have the ability to remain on the authority even after their terms on city council expire. They also have the ability to set their own salary levels that could be very high. Does anyone see a conflict of interest here?

Posted by anonymous on May 29, 2009 01:45 PM

Its interesting as to the misleading statements that are coming from Santa Clara city officials. For example, Mayor Mahan and Councilmember Kevin Moore, keep asserting the city's General Fund will not be impacted by the stadium project. However, information, regarding the term sheet, alleges a ticket surcharge on non-49er related events to act as a "firewall" for the city's General Fund. This being the case, is this evidence the General Fund may be at risk? Will city officials be able to guarantee no risks to the General Fund?

Posted by Juan Pardell on May 29, 2009 08:50 PM

Wake me when the City (if you have to ask "which City?" you ain't paying attention) forces the Niners to call themselves the Santa Clara 49ers.

Posted by Marty on May 29, 2009 10:37 PM

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