New Stadium Plans find a Home

49ers Shift Focus of New Stadium Effort to City of Santa Clara

The San Francisco 49ers announced Wednesday that the team is shifting the focus of its efforts to build a new stadium from the City of San Francisco to the City of Santa Clara, where the team currently has its headquarters and training facility. The announcement comes after a year of study by the team, its development partner, Lennar Corporation, and San Francisco officials to determine if Candlestick Point could support a new state-of-the-art NFL stadium and an adjacent major mixed-use development that would have played a key role in helping to privately finance the project. After careful deliberation, the team came to the conclusion that the project would not have offered the optimal game day experience it is seeking to create for fans, and has therefore decided not to move forward with the public approval process at Candlestick Point.

The decision stemmed from the incompatible land requirements of the stadium and mixed-use development at the site. The project would have created massive new infrastructure and public transit needs, and the size of the development would take up much of the space fans currently use for parking and tailgating, requiring the construction of one of the largest parking garages in the world. Additionally, the complexity of the approval process placed the team’s goal of opening the new stadium in time for the 2012 NFL season in jeopardy. “We hired the best experts and Lennar to move forward with this project at Candlestick Point,” advisors in the business and worked tirelessly with the City and said team owner John York. “I want to commend Mayor Newsom and his staff and Lennar for their support and determination over the past year in this enormous undertaking. This decision is not a reflection of their efforts, but rather the geographic challenges of this site.”

As a result of today’s decision, the team will now concentrate its efforts on evaluating a new stadium in Santa Clara, near the Great America amusement park and the Santa Clara Convention Center. The location is served by several six-to-eight-lane thoroughfares built to accommodate high traffic volumes, which would offer easy access to fans from multiple freeways that connect throughout the Bay Area. In addition, there are many forms of public transportation nearby, including some that would reach fans as far away as Sacramento. “We’re excited to work with Santa Clara officials to discuss this project,” said York. “Based on our initial analysis, Santa Clara has strong potential to deliver the game day experience our fans deserve."




The proposed new 49ers home in Santa Clara, California.