The San Francisco 49ers will invest nearly $200 million back into Levi’s Stadium to fund major upgrades in the lead up to the FIFA World Cup and Super Bowl in 2026. The team announced on Aug. 27 that the upgrades will include enhanced wi-fi, the largest 4K video boards in the NFL, along with upgrades to club and suite spaces.
“You’re certainly going to notice the screens and the digital display upgrades, just because they’re going to be massive in nature, which is exciting,” said Brent Schoeb, 49ers chief revenue and marketing officer. “[We] wanted to make sure that our spaces were upgraded from a visual standpoint, but also from a technology standpoint as well, knowing that we’re in the heart of Silicon Valley.”
Schoeb said he understands that the upgrades may seem soon considering that Levi’s Stadium is only ten years old, but one of the goals is to stay at the top as a premiere venue.
“A lot changes in 10 years. Ultimately, when we opened [Levi’s Stadium], two big things were, one, we wanted to make sure we were attracting the top events in the world, whether it was Super Bowl 50 or the NFC championship game, or Taylor Swift and all of her fans, or Beyonce, or whatever it might be, our entire goal is to capture all those events,” said Schoeb. “Part of this renovation is to ensure that we are keeping with the times and making sure that it is state of the art.
“And then also, certainly, there’s a pressure being in Silicon Valley,” continued Schoeb. “10 years is certainly not new from a Silicon Valley standpoint. So as part of that, the market and our fan base and our partners are kind of dictating that as well, with us.”
The team will work with Cisco and XFINITY to install wi-fi 6 over the next few years. It is also working with Verizon and AFL to ensure the cell service within the stadium is up to par.
From a sustainability standpoint, the lighting system will also get an upgrade, shifting away from the traditional stadium lights to LEDs.
All of this is expected to be ready for major events like the Super Bowl and FIFA World Cup in 2026.
“This is certainly the big push, both for Super Bowl, World Cup, then also for Niners games and all of our other events,” said Schoeb. “The nice thing is that all these elements will be in play for concerts, for soccer matches and then other private events that we host as well. This is really the big push in advance of 2026 since the timeline is coming right around the corner.”
The 49ers are expected to pay for more than 90% of the upgrades with the rest of the money coming out of the Stadium fund.
The east side is still hotter than heck on a sunny day….especially the upper deck. Parking and traffic management are way sub standard. The improvements are just eye candy.
The cost of security and traffic management at 49ers games are the highest in the NFL. Surprisingly, it is not Los Angeles or New York City or Washington DC or any other big metropolis, but in our tiny, little, quiet city of Santa Clara. Our highly salary police officers are paid double-time to work the games.
It is MIND BOGGLING that Lisa Gillmor and her 2011 council colleagues signed a contract with the 49ers in 2011 that capped per game public safety costs at $140,000/game before even ONE game had been played. And they capped the annual increase at what–4%/year? How many years have the annual raises and/or total compensation costs been 4% or less??
That council could have demanded more compensation, or, at least, a reasonable method of revising the cap based on actual costs, but Lisa Gillmor and her 2011 council colleagues FAILED to do this.
She owes the people of Santa Clara an apology.
I wonder if the high pay has any connection to the election contributions made by the Police Officers’ Association PAC to Lisa Gillmor and her chosen candidates?