Venue Detail
San Francisco 49ers
Revenues From Sports Venues Pro Facilities Report
February, 2011
San Francisco 49ers
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4949 Centennial Blvd Santa Clara, CA 95054-1229 Phone: 415-656-4949 Fax: 415-727-4937 URL: www.sf49ers.com
Owner
Denise DeBartolo York
League
National Football League NFC West
Venue
Candlestick Park, 100 Candlestick Park, San Francisco, CA 94124-3903 Owner: City of San Francisco Managed by: Owner Built: 1958 Capacity: 63,000 Permanent concession stands: 32 Concessionaire: Centerplate Suite caterer: Butler Catering Soft drink: Coca Cola Beer: Multiple
Naming rights
Sold to: Monster Cable Products Price: $6, 000,000 Term: 6 years Expires: 2008
Ticket prices
Season tickets range from $250 to $980 Single tickets range from $59.00 to $113.00
Attendance
2007 average attendance: 68,028 2008 average attendance: 67,513 2009 average attendance: 69,732
Luxury Suites
Quantity: 94 Term: 1 to 3 years Price: $50,000 to $150,000 Seats: 8 to 27 Includes: Tickets, parking.
Financing
The $24.6 million stadium was expanded in 1968 through an increase in the hotel/motel tax and a 50-cent admissions tax. A $40 million renovation in 1981 added another dollar to the admission tax. Pct. public: 100
The stadium, formerly 3Com Park and Monster Park, hosts the NFL 49ers. After the naming rights deal with 3Com expired, it reverted to its previous moniker until 2004 when rights were sold again to Monster Cable Products. It has now gone back to the original name.
With nearly 60 percent of the vote, Santa Clara voters supported a plan to build a $937 million stadium for the San Francisco 49ers.
The plan calls for Santa Clara to put up $79 million. Nearby hotels would provide $35 million through a voluntary tax, and the 49ers and the stadium authority would be responsible for the other $823 million. Stadium naming rights, concession agreements and seat licenses were among the anticipated sources for that cash.
The team must now secure hundreds of millions of dollars in financing in tight economic times to break ground in two years on a new home next to the Great America theme park.
If the plan comes to fruition, the 68,500-seat stadium would open in 2015 or later adjacent to Great America theme park. The two venues would be part of an expanded entertainment district.
There are many hurdles that still face the team. The first could be a legal challenge from Cedar Fair, owners of Great America. Cedar Fair has an agreement with the city for park space on land adjacent to the park and it believes the stadium could hinder that.
Before the vote, San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom urged them not to do it and suggested that the city could spend its money on more worthwhile things. Newson wants to keep the team in San Francisco as part of the Hunters Point Shipyard development. He also suggested he might sue Santa Clara if the team continues to use San Francisco in its name.
In a significant change from the financial plan the two sides initially studied in 2007, the proposed term sheet with Santa Clara promises revenue directly to the city's general fund. It also includes the possibility of the city receiving a refund on a large part of its investment if the stadium lands a second NFL team, such as the Raiders, something city officials described as “a fairly high possibility.”
Funding from the team and league would total $493 million, although it has not been disclosed how that expense would be divided.
The public portion – $114 million – will come from a new tax on hotel rooms, redevelopment money and utility funds. A public vote would be required on the issue.
If Santa Clara were successful in luring a second NFL team to share the stadium, the 49ers would return all of the $42 million invested by the city's redevelopment agency.
City officials and the 49ers peg Santa Clara's contribution at $79 million, saying the proposed 2 percent hotel tax could be termed a private contribution, although the city would form the district that would collect it. The term sheet includes language that would appear to insulate city taxpayers from revenue shortfalls or cost overruns in both the stadium's construction or operations – meaning the 49ers and the NFL would be exposed to paying even more than $493 million.
Surcharges levied on stadium tickets would bankroll a $250,000-a-year fund for city parks, libraries and youth and senior programs, and other surcharges are a second potential revenue source for the general fund.
A proposed city stadium authority, a public agency that would build and own the facility, would have to raise enough money through the sale of naming rights, corporate sponsorships, seat licenses and ticket surcharges to finance $330 million, or 35 percent, of the project cost.
Because a majority of the rent Santa Clara's general fund would receive from the stadium is performance-based during the first decade of the 40-year deal, the authority would also have to be successful in booking college football games, international soccer matches, concerts and other non-NFL events. Otherwise, Santa Clara might see only a fraction of the more than $2 million projected return to the general fund in the stadium's first year. (Facilities, Financial, Football, NFL, Professional Sports)