By Robert Haugh
It’s hard to believe the 49ers when they talk about the stadium. They’ve been misstating facts and breaking promises to the City for a long time.
Last week’s story by Thy Vo in the Mercury News reminded us of that. The 49ers say they’re losing money because of the weekday stadium curfew.
She quotes 49ers exec Rahul Chandhok.
“The Mayor has played politics and refused to correct, or even address, her music ban. Residents have lost out on millions of dollars in revenue and music lovers have been denied an opportunity to view world-class events.”
Chandhok is the same guy that went nuts when the team lost an arbitration in August. The 49ers tried to lower their own rent by $170 million, but failed. The City will gain $180 million from that decision.
Music Ban?
What music ban? The weekday stadium curfew has existed since 2010. That’s when the 49ers negotiated the agreement to manage the stadium. That’s when they agreed to the curfew. Apparently, Chandhok doesn’t know that. He should check out the City’s Levi’s Stadium FYI page:
“Night outdoor non-NFL events shall be scheduled to end no later than 10 pm Sunday through Thursday and 11 pm Friday and Saturday, unless otherwise approved by the City Manager or their designee.
The Santa Clara City Council approved Resolution 10-7784 on November 9, 2010.”
Oh, by the way, Lisa Gillmor was not on the Council in 2010. So it’s not her music ban.
The only person on the team or City who was around then and signed off on the agreements was Jed York. So maybe Chandhok should call it “Jed’s music ban.”
‘No One” will Play at Levi’s Because of Curfew?
Chandhok also said that the curfew is going drive away acts. Really?
“He (Chandhok) pointed to comments by a major concert promoter, Louis Messina, who said in a 2017 interview that the city is “going to lose so much revenue,” and “no one is going to play a building with a 10 p.m. curfew.”
But the facts don’t support Chandhok — or Messina.
For example, Taylor Swift played at Levi’s on May 11, 2018. That was only a year after Messina made his comment that “no one” will play at Levi’s. Swift is not a “no one.”
May 11 was a Friday so the curfew was 11 p.m. No problem. The tickets sold so well that a second concert was added for May 12, according to the the Mercury News.
Oh, by the way, Taylor Swift’s concert promoter is … Louis Messina.
The 49ers management and Chandhok have no credibility when they talk about the stadium, especially when they say things that aren’t supported by the facts. And they quote people who say things that aren’t supported by the facts.
Let’s hope the City Council and City staff ignore them.
[…] allowed the concert promoter for Taylor Swift to schedule a second concert. It was on Friday, May 11, 2018. They lost over $2 million for the second concert! And the promoter gave away more than […]
[…] But if Schuk doesn’t want to read City news releases for facts, she can check out some of our stories for facts. Just last month, we wrote about the curfew, too. […]
The Niners must be joking on their claim It’s the city fault for losing money. They are the ones who is to blame. Over the last five years they continue to book losing college bowl games that off set profits from other events. The last five they have fenced off approximately 200 parking spaces in front of the stadium for their storage yard. Now just think about it:: at NFL game charge $60. Per space times 10 games a year times the last 5 years comes to a lose of $600,000.of parking revenue. Revenues that off set public safety cost. My question, did they apply for a change of use permit, parking to storage and did they get approval and a permit for the fencing. My guess they did not!. At the same time they complain that they need more premium parking spots. This is just a few things we know how they mismanage our stadium. Now it’s no secret that the Niner partnership is sour and they just can’t get along with the city. Niners spoke person Rahul Chanhok continue to attack our Mayor and council (stadium board) which is also attack of our city and citizens. Chanhok verbal abuse is unprofessional and disrespectful, one word to Chanhok “ grow-up”. We still continue to book concerts and other events that meet the curfew requirements. The curfew is not out of line, Mt. Winery in Saratoga has their concerts end at 10 pm during week day nights and they are book solid during the concert season. This all comes down to a failing partnership that can not be repaired. We need to get a partner to manage the stadium that we can TRUST. Some one that can follow our city guidelines and that is honest and transparent. Let the Niners run their own NFL games and leave managing the non NFL game to a responsible company.
Niners just got $36M of the money back, not from rent but from taxes. Taking money from Santa Clara students.
https://www.mercurynews.com/2019/01/23/huge-tax-hit-looms-after-49ers-win-levis-stadium-property-tax-appeal/
An article just came out on the SJMN – Huge tax hit looms after 49ers win Levi’s Stadium property tax appeal – you should all read it. If the Niners can’t get their way, they will screw the entities that really need tax dollars. You could just call them “Scrooge.”
The Niners use lawyers and pr people to fool bureaucrats and new reporters. It’s a good thing you’re calling them out on their BS.
Seems pretty obvious that a music ban is not a music ban. But not to the Murky News.
And whose stadium is it? If the niners are losing money it would almost have to be through their property management firm, Manco. (?)
An easy solution for that is to change property management firms. That is overdue anyway, IMHO.
The Niners must be joking on their claim that it is the city fault for losing money. They are the ones who’s to blame. Over the past five years they continue to book losing college bowl games that off set profits from other events. The last five years they have fenced off approximately 200 parking spaces for their storage yard. Now just think about it. At a NFL game they charge $60.00 a space times 10 games a year times 5 years that come out losing $600,000.00 of parking revenue. Parking revenues off set the public safety cost. And the fencing also blocks off EV parking. Question, did they apply for for a change of use permit from parking to storage, did they obtain a permit and approval for the parking lot fence in storage? I would guess not. And at the same time they complain they need more premium parking spaces. These are just a few things we know about how the Niners mismanage our stadium. Now it’s no secret about a sour partnership, when their spoke person Rahul Chanhok attacks our Mayor and council (stadium board) they are attacking our city and citizens. His verbal attacks are not only unprofessional but disrespectful, one word for Chanhok “ grow up”. We still continue to book concerts and other events that end at the curfew time line. The curfew time line is not out of the ordinary, Mt. Winery a famous concert location in Saratoga residential area ends all of their concerts at 10pm during week day nights. They are booked solid during the concert season. This comes down to a failing partnership that can’t be repaired. We need a managing partner that we can TRUST. Someone who can follow our city guidelines and is honest and transparent and not running to their attorney wanting to sue the city every minute. It time to terminate the Niners management contract for all non NFL events and only let them run their NFL games. This stop their complaining, their law suites and mismanagement loses.
I saw this article and it really ticked me off. And people from the media can’t imagine why they are not well respected or believed. Printing comments about the mayor’s news ban in what is supposed to be a news article shows the caliber of news the SJ Murky News puts out.