By Robert Haugh
Last month, Levi’s Stadium got some publicity but not in a good way.
Pro Football Weekly, a respected sports site, wrote a story about how the Chicago Bears are looking for a new stadium. The team is threatening to move to Arlington Heights, outside of Chicago. They put in a bid for the 326-acre Arlington International Racecourse.
The publication evaluated Levi’s Stadium.
“… the stadium is an hour from downtown San Francisco when traffic is good, there is no shade to speak of, so half the stadium melts in the California sun, and its general lack of personality, Levi’s Stadium is an example of how a move to the suburbs could prove disappointing.”
Ouch.
A video circulated about Levi’s Stadium on the Forgotten Places YouTube channel. The channel says it focuses on “stadiums, Infrastructure, buildings, and more.”
Levi’s Stadium was called the “worst of the new stadiums.” Double ouch.
The report cites poor planning, lack of shade, unaffordable seats, and bad turf for the players.
According to our sources, the 49ers’ John York, Jed’s dad and the official team co-owner, was a key player in designing the stadium. Maybe he could design a shade structure — and pay for it.
Levi’s stadium is just ugly and looks cheap. It appears as though they stuck a bunch girders in the ground and hung some ramps and seats and called it a stadium. No style at all.
Unfortunately, the SC stadium design was based on the original Candlestick point plans, but the Yorks were too cheap to redesign when the SF stadium plan did not succeed – the west-facing seats and afternoon sun would have been fine for Candlestick point with its moderate-to-cool climate (see the map how the stadium fits nicely in Candlestick point), but is a horrible design for SC Valley. Also unfortunately, many unknowing season ticket contract holders (especially from up North) who had purchased contracts for the west-facing seats in SC abandoned (at a loss) their ticket contracts. Sad state of affairs.
https://www.google.com/maps/place/Candlestick+Point+State+Recreation+Area/@37.7146798,-122.3815252,15z/data=!4m5!3m4!1s0x0:0x889dd9322a45be11!8m2!3d37.7146798!4d-122.3815252
Great comments Howard!
Thanks so much for your concern for our City.
Burt Field
Love the line “…an example of how a move to the suburbs could prove disappointing.” Yeah, for them and the suburb.
No comments on the botched job of community relations? By relations I mean raping the community.