By Robert Haugh
The Santa Clara City Council, acting as the Stadium Authority Board, learned more about the latest 49ers request to get the public to pay for their office space.
Last night, 49ers’ Finance Director Alex Acton, gave more details about the team’s latest request for $650,000 per year for office space. Answering questions from Mayor Lisa Gillmor, he said that number would grow each year.
“The space itself is a little bit over 52,000 square feet and we have a little bit over 160 full-time employees in there, a mixture of TeamCo (49ers) and ManCo (49ers stadium management) employees.”
City Staff disclosed the team’s request last week in a study session. Last night was the continuation of last week’s session.
A former City Hall insider suggested that the 49ers have “sublet” stadium space for a variety of football and non-football groups.
For example, at the end of last year, KNBR announced that they would move out of their broadcast facility at 750 Battery Street and operate full-time from Levi’s Stadium
KNBR is the official radio broadcaster of 49ers games.
The City Council will decide on this and other matters next week.
[…] They tried this move last year to get the public to pay for space for approximately 160 of the team’s employees when they moved out of Levi’s Stadium. […]
[…] Last week, Mayor Lisa Gillmor made it clear she wasn’t on board when she pressed 49ers’ finance director, Alex Acton, on why the public should cover the cost of private office space. […]
[…] Tomorrow’s Santa Clara City Council meeting has several items on the agenda including the Levi’s Stadium budget that includes the 49ers’ request to have the City pay for office space for their employees. […]
[…] Maybe this is why the team needs a lot more office space. […]
The team needs to have some Trump style threats and intimidation thrown in their direction. Every time I read about the team always trying to take advantage of Santa Clara financially it really misses me off! I know there are many in this community that feel the same way. I lobbied for 2 years to have the city council to impose a ticket tax for all sports and entertainment events in Santa Clara which would ensure the city generates income for the general fund from each and every event. My efforts were met with little enthusiasm from the fetid council.
52,000 square feed at $650,000? That’s just $12.50/sqft. Office buildings in Santa Clara average more than $35 per square foot. The real decision is (a) whether the 160 employees can continue to work in current accomodations or (b) do they need a new workspace?
Speaking of new building money: Residents should continue to ask why the SCPOA is trying to build a good-ol-boys shoot ’em up fun-house with $44,000,000 in taxpayer dollars? For any Buchser High grads who have historically been bad at math, that’s equal to a 68 year office lease for TeamCo and ManCo.
Although I am a 49er’s fan, they should pay their own bills. They make Alot of $ 🙂
With all of the vacant properties in the area why don’t they take one of their billions and buy their own building and invest into Santa Clara? Oh wait, they’d have to pay property taxes that benefit the City and other local entities. And there’s the pesky issue about NFL events only being 6 months out of the year. They could put that aside and do something good for a change. But no….let the residents pay instead.
This is not going to end, until we as voters decide we have had enough.
It’s time to hold people accountable.
As they say, “Actions speak louder than words”.
1. Hold all parties accountable to how this piece of property is managed.
2. Separate the 49ers from being both the Landlord and Tenant on the same property.
There is no good ending for Santa Clara as long as that situation does not change.
Burt Field
78′ Buchser High School Grad
Where is DOGE when we need it? Tax payer money shouldn’t be funneled to the Yorks. Let’s use it to pay city dept.
The niners already steal enough of my money. How about NO
Well, we the voters keep putting the 49er 5 back into office. We shouldn’t be surprised by this. The 49er 5 will undoubtedly rubber stamp their approval and continue to give Jed York whatever they want.
Observation nailed it.
If you don’t like what the 49er shill Council is doing, go gripe to you neighbors what put them in office. Park, Suds, and Hardy all ran on platforms that were pro 49er – so we shouldn’t be surprised they are pursuing this agenda.
Just like Trump – here to destroy the community