By Brian Doyle
At the September 24, 2024 Council meeting, I made a request to agendize a Study Session on Staff’s failure to comply with Council direction on negotiations for the 2026 World Cup and Super Bowl events.
At the Council’s August 27 meeting Staff revealed that they had failed to follow Council direction to attain reimbursement of all event costs, including public safety costs. They admitted that, in violation of Measure J, they had already spent City funds on Stadium operations in the form of uncompensated Staff time and expenses on the Super Bowl and World Cup. Staff also indicated that it would be acceptable to them to backfill the losses that the 49ers had agreed to with public Stadium Authority funding.
The reason that Santa Clara is negotiating so late in the game, while virtually all the other World Cup cities have already made their deals for the matches, is that Al Guido, CEO of the 49er-controlled Management Company (ManCo) made a secret deal with FIFA without ever consulting the City Council.
On June 13, 2022, Guido signed an Addendum agreement with FIFA on behalf of the Stadium Authority as ManCo’s CEO and also signed as CEO of the Bay Area Host Committee. He continued to hide the details of this Addendum from the Stadium Authority during the same time that ManCo was negotiating a restoration of the Management Agreement that the Council had terminated.
Guido’s participation in the making of the Addendum agreement was in fact a serious violation of state conflict of interest laws because he had a financial interest in his role as CEO of the 49ers Stadium Company (StadCo).
StadCo owns the luxury suites at Levi’s Stadium that because of his signing of the Addendum, it can book at a substantial profit for the World Cup and Super Bowl. Guido’s shielding of his illegal activity was a serious material omission that gives apparent grounds for the Stadium Authority not only to declare the FIFA Addendum void but to rescind the Settlement Agreement as having been obtained through fraud.
Sometime in 2023, ManCo gave a copy of the FIFA Addendum to the City Attorney that revealed that Guido signed on behalf of both ManCo and the BAHC and that the deal would result in tens of millions of dollars in losses to the Stadium Authority. To date, City Attorney Glen Googins has failed to explain how Guido’s violation of state law in signing the Addendum had not rendered the Addendum void and unenforceable against the Stadium Authority. Instead, the Googins agreed to keep much of the contents of the Addendum hidden from the public, making it more difficult to enforce conflict of interest violations.
Fast forward to Tuesday night: I pointed out that as a result of Staff having already spent public resources on preparing for Guido’s money-losing deal, they had put the City and Stadium Authority behind the eight ball. Staff now have to negotiate to get back money that they already spent. They should stop negotiating until all this money has been paid.
They should not re-start negotiating until they include all financial losses that the City and Stadium will suffer as the result of assigning the World Cup event. Stadium non-NFL revenue is used to pay for NFL public safety costs that exceed the cap; loss of net revenue will result in a shortfall in the ability to make these payments. In addition, any lost revenue that comes from assigning the FIFA rent reduces performance rent for that year, a portion of which is necessary for the City to receive fair market value for the use of the land on which the Stadium sits.
If the Stadium Authority doesn’t get reimbursed for all of its losses, then the public is subsidizing StadCo and Guido who will benefit from the event. This would be a violation of state conflict of interest law and the Management Agreement. It also would violate just plain common sense.
Councilmembers Raj Chahal, Suds Jain, Karen Hardy, and Kevin Park all voted to deny my request. They voted to keep covering up Guido’s violations. They voted to keep the public in the dark while Staff continues to give away the public’s money.
This action mirrors what happened on August 27, 2022. Anthony Becker, Jain, Hardy, and Park approved a settlement agreement that awarded the Management Agreement back to ManCo without resolving the conflict of interest issues. In fact, the Settlement Agreement magnified the conflict issues. The next day the 49ers began to fund Becker, Chahal, and Hardy’s campaigns.
Please note that the 49ers have spent millions to elect Becker, Jain, Hardy, and Park and are currently running ads to re-elect Jain and Park.
[…] Santa Clara Will Lose Millions […]
Vote everyone involved out..
Who has the authority to make these deals on behalf of the city?
These owners have enough money without public funds.
As a resident, I feel like I am being treated like an opponent of this football team. An aggressive team that hides their plays, and is out to tackle City Hall to score a financial killing.
49ers have paid Clint Reilly and Tom Pino (hillary 2016) to craft their campaign
Either the City council is ignorant or corrupt. Take your pick.
To clarify – not Emma (who’s great!) but the original post
For years I have been having to deal with illegal parking, rude/drunk behavior, traffic, trespassing, vandalism, and having to clean up around my property during stadium events. Stadium management has been totally unresponsive to me, nor do they pay me for my trouble. So basically I work for free for them picking up garbage and providing security services. Apparently I am not alone and Santa Clara seems to have been turned into a life support system for a massive sports bar. If I had events on my property that caused problems or financial hardship for the city, I’d be quickly shut down. How come the Santa Clara City Council gives the stadium business a pass? If the city is truely losing money (as I am) on the stadium then what is the redeeming value to the people of Santa Clara for running a charity benefitting a rich family from Ohio? Maybe these stories about members on the city council being financially supported by the 49ers organization are true.
I gave the city council an opportunity to make some money for the city from events at the stadium and they declined. Perhaps some type of action is necessary.
Well it’s clear that if you are the city attorney or city manager and go against the 49ers, you won’t be long for your job. This is probably why the current people holding those positions do pretty much nothing when it comes to holding anyone accountable.
The solution is clear: the York family and Al Guido pay for all of the public’s losses as the result of their unauthorized backroom deal with FIFA. If the 49ers can borrow $200M from the NFL, they should have the resources to do right by the voters of Santa Clara.
imagine if gilmore hadn’t fought to change the bond measure from $600M to $400M! the CM was proposing and 49er 5 were fighting for it! There’s york’s $200M slush fund! gilmore outsmarts york all the time. no wonder he’s always attacking her. what a spoiled brat. ha! ha!!
Thank You Brian Doyle, thank you Mr. Haugh for having this forum to educate Santa Clara about Santa Clara issues, both good and bad.
2 really simple points of fact. Trust me, this could have been a much longer list. But just these two are enough for me to understand something is really wrong here.
If this goes unchecked, the Residents of our City are going to get caught holding all the Bills / invoices that will need to be paid.
The 49ers / FIFA / NFL will be holding the $$ made off our backs.
Here we go… just 2 points.
1. Renter’s, should ever be allowed to be in any position to manage, supervise, and oversee any part of what they are renting.
Only the Owner, Landlord, or Independent Property Management Group should ever be in that position.
Why?
Without an independent 3rd party, how can you guarantee impartial oversight, insure compliance, and safety.
At the end of the Day, the renter needs to be held accountable for actions taken while renting the property.
2. Any time someone tells you, “Don’t tell anyone, this is our little secret”, what have we been told to do….RUN. Then tell everyone what you just saw, heard or experienced. Distance yourself from that situation as soon as possible.
It’s never a good place to be.
So why all the secrecy? This just reek corruption.
Impartial Oversight protects everyone, including the people trying to rip us off.
Ok, I’ll stop here.
Burt Field
There is always three sides to the story and Doyle’s is beyond tiresome. His inept management of the CVRA and 49ers lawsuits cost taxpayers millions of dollars, where’s Doyle’s side of the story explaining that?
Look closely at the summary in his last three paragraphs. Doyle complains (1) he’s been scorned by Councilmembers Raj Chahal, Suds Jain, Karen Hardy, and Kevin Park; (2) he implies that Chahal, Jain, Hardy, and Park are giving the 49ers something of immediate value; and (3) in return Doyle claims the 49ers are funding the reelection of Jain and Park. What’s missing from Doyle’s 781 word diatribe are solutions. That’s right, just like when he was the City Attorney, Doyle somehow is in the middle of conflict with no solution that benefits Santa Clara residents.
Where the hell is your solution??
Doyle suggested a study session.
That gives opportunity for recommendations/direction
and more importantly answers
to a very troubling scenario
that he presents. But big surprise!!
4 of 5 sellouts said No. Becker is
trying to stay out of jail and just
kissing ***.
So just STFU and crawl in your hole.
LMAO! This response was clearly written by a paid PR consultant. Such predictable name-calling by a 22 year old freshly out of a sorority.
To Brian ‘no solution’ Doyle
What’s your point?
Why are you wasting your time with this worthless drivel.
Just a quick fact check.
Brian Doyle was 7-0 vs the S.F. 49ers in Court.
So my question again is, “What’s your point?
I love analogies, and here is one that fits our City right now.
“When you are drowning, the last thing you are looking for is a swim lessons.”
We are in survival mode at this moment. Let’s keep focused on educating the residents on who is for them, and who is for the 49ers.
Here is a cheat sheet for SC Residents who want their City back.
I think you can vote as early as Oct 20th…
Bob O’Keefe City Clerk (All of us)
Cory Morgan Chief of Police (All of us)
Satish Chandra Council D1 (Near Stadium, will replace Kathy Watanabe)
Teresa O’Neil Council D4 (My District. I have to get rid of Kevin Park)
David Kertes Council D5 (Suds Jain, has got to go)
Kelly Cox. Council D6 (Across the street from me, Becker is gone, so please don’t waste any votes on any other candidates running against her)
Thanks Burt Field
burt.field@gmail.com
408.687.2622 cell, text first so I can add you.
Emma Dias, if we ever meet, please give me a “High Five”!!
By the way, I’m getting some tips on where I can place some signs… keep them coming, I just need to get some more!!