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Santa Clara, 49ers announce deal to pay for stadium
San Jose Mercury Hews ^ | 12/03/2011 | Staff

Posted on 12/03/2011 2:08:23 PM PST by Utah Binger

At long last, the 49ers' turbulent drive for a new home in Silicon Valley is reaching the end zone.

The NFL team and Santa Clara announced Friday that they have captured all the money needed to build a proposed $1 billion football stadium next to the Great America theme park -- the largest and final obstacle needed before construction can start.

"It's like first-and-goal from the 9-yard line," said Ron Garratt, a consultant helping lead the project for the city. "We think we're going to score from here."

The funding deal was spelled out in a development contract that caps two-and-a-half years of closed-door negotiations between city and team leaders and essentially completes a planning process that began when the team announced interest in abandoning San Francisco five years ago.

Goldman Sachs, U.S. Bank and Bank of America have agreed to loan the city and team a combined $850 million to pay for the lion's share of the construction, which could start as soon as next year. But critics are alarmed by a major shift in the funding plan that emerged Friday: The city will take on more than twice as much debt as was promised to voters, even though the 49ers vow they won't leave the city holding the bag.

(Excerpt) Read more at mercurynews.com ...


TOPICS: Local News; Outdoors; Sports
KEYWORDS: 49ers; football; sanfrancisco
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To: freedumb2003

Oh, you moved to the Metroplex where the voters were more than happy to give Jerry Jones a billion dollars?

By leaving California for Texas, you simply switched Socialists.


21 posted on 12/03/2011 2:30:19 PM PST by trumandogz (In Rick Perry's Nanny State, the state will drive your kids to the dentist at tax payer expense)
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To: PapaNew
They won't be if they have to commute there.

Most 49ers season ticket holders live on the Peninsula or in the South Bay. Relatively few live in SF or north of SF. This is a net win for most season ticket holders. The location is right off the 101 and a short drive from the 280 near the Santa Clara convention center and several large technology parks - on Sundays there is no other traffic in that area and it should be infinitely better that trying to drive through SF's maze of one-way streets clogged with panhandlers.

That is such a perfect and beautiful location, right next to the bay with killer views of the water and the Bay Bridge. It's in China Basin, the warmest, sunniest spot in San Francisco

That's like the warmest, sunniest spot in Moscow. And who needs killer views of the water in November and December. The Giants play in summer and you still need to take a jacket. The 49ers will play in winter - after 50 seasons in North Sea oil-rig conditions in Candlestick, the fans deserve a decent location. Santa Clara is certainly better situated - the real problem is that the city and taxpayers are going to get ripped off.
22 posted on 12/03/2011 2:30:45 PM PST by AnotherUnixGeek
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To: freedumb2003; writer33

I bet you two weren’t the only FReepers moving here recently.


23 posted on 12/03/2011 2:31:41 PM PST by GeronL (The Right to Life came before the Right to Pursue Happiness)
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To: Billthedrill

You forgot to read the small print. It says if you are illegal you get in free when you sign up to vote.

It’s the Kali way.


24 posted on 12/03/2011 2:33:13 PM PST by Utah Binger (Southern Utah where INVITED Freepers will meet again next summer. Jim Robinson Too)
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To: trumandogz

>>By leaving California for Texas, you simply switched Socialists.<<

Debatable. Trust me, Texas may be more left than many would like but it is a LOT more conservative (and downright more capital-friendly in many ways) than the People’s Republic of Kalifornia.

Yeah, I know about the Jones Monument to Himself, but even when you factor that in it is still a lot better here. A LOT.


25 posted on 12/03/2011 2:34:49 PM PST by freedumb2003 (Spoiler Alert! The secret to Terra Nova: THEY ARE ALL DEAD!!!)
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To: trumandogz

The people of Arlington are nuts.

Always have been.

Hope they enjoy selling peanuts and beer 10 days a year for their billion.


26 posted on 12/03/2011 2:37:45 PM PST by GeronL (The Right to Life came before the Right to Pursue Happiness)
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To: GeronL; writer33

>>I bet you two weren’t the only FReepers moving here recently.<<

And after the next combination of legislation, budget busting judgments (the courts continue to tell kali it has to fund prorams when it ain’t got any money) and “fees” I suspect we will be joined by an ocean of them in the next year.


27 posted on 12/03/2011 2:39:01 PM PST by freedumb2003 (Spoiler Alert! The secret to Terra Nova: THEY ARE ALL DEAD!!!)
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To: Utah Binger
The funding deal was spelled out in a development contract that caps two-and-a-half years of closed-door negotiations between city and team leaders and essentially completes a planning process that began when the team announced interest in abandoning San Francisco five years ago.

Taxpayers should always be wary when there are lots of closed-door negotiations between two groups of people who are looking to squeeze every dime out of the taxpayer that they can.
28 posted on 12/03/2011 3:00:26 PM PST by af_vet_rr
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To: af_vet_rr

You are correct sir/maam


29 posted on 12/03/2011 3:06:58 PM PST by Utah Binger (Southern Utah where INVITED Freepers will meet again next summer. Jim Robinson Too)
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To: AnotherUnixGeek
That's right - on weekends, shouldn't be a problem. I guess I was thinking about when the Giants were negotiating trying to move to the same location in Santa Clara which would have been a commuting nightmare.

Well, maybe it will be OK then. I guess I'm just biased to San Francisco. I've lived in the Santa Clara County all my life and I still would rather go to the City for a game. Great restaurants, great place to walk around - the best. That South beach area where AT&T park is great. You can walk along the waterfront with million-dollar views to some of the best restaurants in the City.

30 posted on 12/03/2011 3:51:14 PM PST by PapaNew
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To: PapaNew

I think that would be the best place.

It is going to suck on 101, 237, 880. Well, 880 already sucks so loudly I won’t drive past Union City for business or pleasure.

Tasman will no longer be the shortcut.

Why can’t they put it in Alviso? You’d still have Bay Views and there would be less pressure on local streets.

Oh Well...


31 posted on 12/03/2011 3:51:35 PM PST by Vendome (Don't take life so seriously, you won't live through it anyway)
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To: Utah Binger

Saint Claire 49ers?


32 posted on 12/03/2011 3:54:00 PM PST by Revolting cat! (Let us prey!)
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To: Vendome

Oh gosh, Alviso. The smell would be pretty bad. I’m with you. Right next to At&T park. The best two sports complexes in the country.


33 posted on 12/03/2011 3:55:11 PM PST by PapaNew
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To: Revolting cat!
Saint Claire 49ers

Doesn't quite cut it does it?

34 posted on 12/03/2011 3:56:58 PM PST by PapaNew
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To: PapaNew

I was thinking if they can build those giant glass buildings up on that man made hill off 237, then they could pave over the rest of area that’s not being used, dredge the dead harbor, rehabilitate the marsh and people could sit in their little dingy’s watching the game.

Heck, it would be cool to have a new dock there and people could ferry themselves on their personal watercraft to the park.

I think there are only what, 4 maybe 5 businesses there and that old Mexican restaurant would hit the jackpot and they could expand buy purchasing some delapitated homes.

Hell, Alviso could get clean up and the impact on the place would be an improvement.

It would still be next Marriott’s Great America but in a more reasonable place.

I get my car washed at the Shell station and I’d have to stop going there.

237 is already a 1 hour drive after 330 to get to Milpitas. Now it’s going force people to get a pilots license and their own helicopter.

Progress...


35 posted on 12/03/2011 4:08:11 PM PST by Vendome (Don't take life so seriously, you won't live through it anyway)
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To: Revolting cat!; samadams2000
Saint Claire 49ers?

Its about time. When you consider that the majority of their attendees are from Santa Clara County they should be called that. The elitists of San Francisco have had their day. Besides the idiots from the Castro don't deserve a team.

36 posted on 12/03/2011 4:09:35 PM PST by Utah Binger (Southern Utah where INVITED Freepers will meet again next summer. Jim Robinson Too)
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To: GeronL
Anyone with the means should just get out of Kalipornia. Flee for your future.

I traded in my Dodgers cap for a Texas Stetson six years ago.

Go Cowboys!

37 posted on 12/03/2011 4:16:31 PM PST by Windflier (To anger a conservative, tell him a lie. To anger a liberal, tell him the truth.)
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To: Vendome
Great ideas. that old Mexican restaurant

Ha! You know about that place. Everybody goes there. Haven't been there for years. Rosita's I think.

38 posted on 12/03/2011 4:18:40 PM PST by PapaNew
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To: Utah Binger

Speaks well of San Francisco which wouldn’t build them a stadium with private shopping centers and condos.


39 posted on 12/03/2011 4:21:31 PM PST by Revolting cat! (Let us prey!)
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To: freedumb2003
Trust me, Texas may be more left than many would like but it is a LOT more conservative (and downright more capital-friendly in many ways) than the People’s Republic of Kalifornia.

Being recently transplanted Californios, you and I know that for a fact. It's one thing to read about the nutso environment in Cali, but quite another to live in it.

Texas is unbelievably refreshing for conservative refugees from California. That's a fact.

40 posted on 12/03/2011 4:36:43 PM PST by Windflier (To anger a conservative, tell him a lie. To anger a liberal, tell him the truth.)
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