Draft Stadium EIR Comment Period Extended

Deputy City Manager Carol McCarthy tells GlobeSt.com that the extension was in response to a couple of agencies that asked for more time to review and comment on the document. "It's not unusual for an EIR," she says, "especially when it's large."

The City and the 49ers began concurrently working on a disposition and development agreement in July. Once the EIR process and the DDA are completed the city will begin working on the ballot language for a citywide election in early 2010 that will decide the fate of the $937-million development deal, which would include approximately $114 million in public subsidy, 62% of it from the city.

If voters sign off, the new stadium would rise on a 13.5-acre site adjacent to the city's convention center, the Great America theme park and the teams existing headquarters and training facility. The stadium would be unique in that the luxury boxes-approximately 170-would be stacked in an eight-level building rising behind some 9,000 club seats, whereas most stadiums have a club and luxury box seating ringing the entire stadium.

If not approved by voters, the 49ers attention likely will shift back to San Francisco where the city, in partnership with Lennar, wants a new 49ers stadium at Hunter's Point to replace Candlestick Park. Either way, the goal is to have the stadium ready for the 2014 NFL season. The team's initial lease term at Candlestick ends after this season but the team holds three five-year extension options such that it could continue to play in its existing stadium through 2023.

The city council signed off on the financing deal for the stadium in June. The agreement calls for the city to pay for up to $79 million and for eight nearby hotels to put up an additional $35 million by way of a voluntary room tax. The team agreed to pay for any construction cost overruns as well as any operational shortfall.

Per the financing deal, the team will keep all revenue from ticket sales from games, ad revenue from NFL events, ticket premium fees for suite and club room use for non-NFL events, and revenue from the team store.The newly formed Santa Clara Stadium Authority would get revenue from naming rights; net revenue from concession sales and parking lots; and annual rent payments from the team that would total roughly $40 million over the life of the contract, which has an initial lease term of 40 years that may be extended by an additional 20 years.