By Robert Haugh

Last night, the Stadium Authority approved the annual stadium budget.

City staff presented a budget breakdown that shows the City receiving zero performance rent. That’s the money that flows to the City’s general fund from non-NFL events like concerts. Wow.

The 49ers manage non-NFL events and have refused to share information with the City about actual costs and expenses.

The City’s Finance Director Kenn Lee said that it was the 7th year in a row that the 49ers have failed to pay performance rent to Santa Clara. Double wow.

According to the community group Stand Up of Santa Clara, the 49ers have only paid $9,000 since 2018.  Triple wow.

They document their claim from Stadium Authority budget documents on StadiumDebt.com.

Last year, the Stadium generated almost $65 million in total revenue.

The budget was approved on a 5-2 vote.

The 49er Five voted in favor.

Mayor Lisa Gillmor and Councilmember Kathy Watanabe voted against it because they did not want to put their names in an inaccurate financial report.

Gillmor and Watanabe said that City staff was informed only a few days ago that the 49er stadium management was restructured and there’s no general manager.

But the restructuring is not reflected in the budget.  

Gillmor and Watanabe also questioned the legitimacy of some expense numbers.

This is a developing story.

Editor’s Note: The 49er Five are Councilmembers Anthony Becker, Raj Chahal, Suds Jain, Karen Hardy and Kevin Park.

Jed York spent $3 million in November 2020 to elect Becker, Jain, and Park. They were previously 0-6 in Santa Clara elections. Chahal and Hardy have received gifts from the team without reporting them and received $1 million each for their elections in November 2022.

The 49er Five met with the team on an almost weekly basis and have voted to help the team win millions of dollars in concessions from the City since December 2020.