49ers To Leave San Francisco, Move To Santa Clara
SANTA CLARA (CBS 5 / AP) ― The San Francisco 49ers have removed any doubt about a move to Santa Clara.Teamowner John York said during a news conference Thursday that the 49ersintend to replace dingy Candlestick Park with a state-of-the-artstadium --and they plan to do it in Santa Clara, with play startingthere by 2012.
Afteryears of planning for a stadium in the city of San Francisco that hasbeen the franchise's home for six decades, York officially changed hisclub's focus from Candlestick Point to the Silicon Valley suburb thatsits 30 miles south of San Francisco.
York said with a newstadium, the team will go from playing from he called the "oldest andworst stadium in NFL" to the best in the league that will "deliver thegame day experience our fans deserve."
49ers Players React To News
Whileinsisting the 49ers will never leave the San Francisco Bay Area orchange their name, York cited several factors that made it impossibleto continue the team's planning for a stadium and an accompanyingcommercial complex -- which would help fund the arena's construction --on a thin strip of land in the Hunters Point neighborhood of SanFrancisco.
"Nothing will persuade us to change the name of theSan Francisco 49ers, one of the most storied brands in the world ofsports," he said.
The team's current lease at Candlestickruns through the 2008 season and the team holds three five-year optionsthat could extend it through 2023.
But York is determined toopen the new stadium for the 2012 season and he claimed an extensivestudy of the Candlestick Point site proved it wasn't feasible, citingextensive costs for infrastructure, parking accommodations and otherchanges that would cost more than the stadium itself -- which wasestimated between $600 million and $800 million.
"We truly wish that the results were different," said York, who wrested control of the storied franchise from his
brother-in-law,Eddie DeBartolo, in the late 1990s. "We were the last to be convinced.We made this decision as a family, and in the end we were able to cometo this conclusion by thinking about the challenges from the fans'perspective."
Just four months after claiming the team wasconcentrating all of its stadium efforts on that privately financedstadium and entertainment complex on Candlestick Point, York called SanFrancisco mayor Gavin Newsom on Wednesday night and informed him of thedecision. CBS 5 first reported the development Wednesday night upongetting confirmation from the mayor's office.
The proposed new San Francisco stadium was going to be part of the city's bid for the 2016 summer Olympics.
PeterRagone, a spokesman for Newsom, did not know how the 49ers' decisionwould impact the Olympic bid. San Francisco, Los Angeles and Chicagoare the three cities competing to be the U.S. Olympic Committee'schoice to bid on the 2016 games.
Now the 49ers are headed forthe open spaces and burgeoning population of Silicon Valley, currentlyhome to only the NHL's San Jose Sharks among major sports franchises.
TheOakland Athletics also seem determined to follow the money to the BayArea's financial epicenter. They are expected to announce plans soonfor a stadium in Fremont -- about 20 miles from both Oakland and SanJose.
For practical purposes, the 49ers' proposed move 30miles south in the Bay Area will make little difference to the club'sfan base.
The team's training complex and offices have beenlocated on Santa Clara's Centennial Boulevard since 1987, across thestreet from an overflow parking lot for the Great America amusementpark amid acres of industrial parks and apartments.
But the49ers' identity will be forever changed if the club moves away fromCandlestick Point and its dilapidated, wind-swept stadium -- the hometo several of the most memorable playoff games in NFL history duringSan Francisco's run to five Super Bowl championships in the pastquarter-century.
Before the 49ers moved to Candlestick Parkon the waterfront near the southern boundary of the city in 1971, theyplayed their first 25 seasons at Kezar Stadium, a charming, crampedfield that still sits in the heart of San Francisco, just a short walkfrom the Haight-Ashbury district. Coach Mike Nolan saw his first 49ersgames there when his father, Dick, ran the club.
© 2006 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.
