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Milestones – Killing the Golden Goose – Opinion

Imagine if you started a bakery. You took a risk, and naturally, you’ll do everything possible to make the bakery a success. You’ll advertise your business and invite people in for free cookies. You’ll invite local officials and news outlets to a ribbon cutting.

What you won’t do is go out and tell the world that your cookies are overpriced, taste terrible, and crooks run the cafes selling them. That would be like killing the goose that lays golden eggs.

But folks, that is what Santa Clara has done with Levi’s Stadium.

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Fifteen years ago, Santa Clara decided to build a major-league entertainment venue and structured financing so stadium revenues paid for construction — not the taxpayers. Levi’s Stadium was built on time and under budget and hosted a Super Bowl during its second year of operation.

Since then, the stadium has hosted performers like the Rolling Stones and Taylor Swift. This fiscal year alone Santa Clara has seen $4.25 million in profits to the city’s bottom line. That’s on top of about $40 million the general fund has banked since Levi’s opened in 2014.

And on top of paying down the construction debt to $220 million from its original $800 million — with not even one dime from taxpayers.

Other cities would shout this success from the hilltops. Communities buried under stadium debt would be delirious to announce results like this. The tagline “Santa Clara — Home of the 49ers and Levi’s Stadium” would be everywhere.

Instead, for ten years, Mayor Lisa Gillmor and her allies have denied the city’s achievements.

For the last ten years, they’ve been running down the stadium and blocking city profits with event-killing curfews and lawsuits to profit lawyers at the expense of taxpayers. Right now, they’re working as hard as they can to throw a monkey wrench into the 2026 Super Bowl and World Cup games.

The Destination Marketing Organization the city hired doesn’t even mention Levi’s Stadium on its Discover Santa Clara landing page. The stadium is only mentioned two levels down, in reference to the 2026 World Cup. No mention of the NFL team that plays there.

Compare that with Visit Pittsburgh’s landing page: “In Pittsburgh, We Bleed Black and Gold.” That’s what marketing looks like.

Change is in the air, thanks to a city council that puts the city’s bottom line ahead of personal political preeminence. Stadium profits have grown, lawsuits have been settled and relations with the city’s business partner are healing.

Maybe Santa Clara might even become truly “The Center of What’s Possible.”

Previous Milestones: 
Milestones – Pork Barrel Hangover – Opinion
Milestones – Proactive Reactive – Opinion
Milestones – Happy, Healthy and Wise – Opinion

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4 Comments
  1. Good citizen 4 weeks ago
    Reply

    Miles, please, for the love of Santa Clara and all that is good in the world, shut the **** up.
    Thanks.
    Sincerely,
    Everyone

  2. Kirk Vartan 4 weeks ago
    Reply

    OPINION – mixed with lots of FACTS
    .
    You’re right Miles. There isn’t the hoopla about the stadium like Pittsburgh. You just love to blame, especially the mayor. It’s kind of pathetic. What you don’t ask is, “Why?” Why would arguably one of the stadium’s biggest fan/supporter/advocate suddenly turn on the 49er organization? Hmmmm….there must be some reason.
    .
    But how do we research? Where do we look? There must be some reason. What a great job for a local Santa Clara newspaper. Unfortunately, the 49er organization seems to be keeping the paper alive or at least paying for the right things. Becuase all that your paper reported…Santa Clara’s home grown paper, with really talented investigative journalists….was how Mayor Gillmor and her band of thugs were treating the poor 49ers so badly. Big bad Mayor beating up on poor billionare football team.
    .
    Shame on Mayor Gillmor for standing of for the citizens of Santa Clara. Shame on Mayor Gillmor for holding the 49er organization accountable to their promises. Oh, maybe you didn’t know since you had your team beating on elected officials….Jed York wrote a letter to the City promising to build three soccer fields BEFORE Measure J was approved. But when it was approved, since it wasn’t explicitly not in the ballot measure, Jed decided he didn’t want to do that any more. Keep in mind, Mayor Gillmor was not in power, in fact, she was Councilmember Gillmor. Mayor Matthews and his band of cronies, the city manager, and the city attorney thought they could Out Play the bullion dollar behemoth. As last year’s grand jury report laid out for all to see, the 49ers took Santa Clara to the cleaners in terms of authority and money. Santa Clara wins by protecting the city, but that’s about where the greatness ends. And when the 49ers bascilly gave the middle finger to the city by deciding not to build those fields and then try to by the kids soccer park for VIP parking, well, that set in motion a thing that is pretty hard to slow down:
    .
    Betrayal
    .
    The 49er organization, led by Jed York, knew they had the power to turn the screws to Santa Clara, and they did. They put so much pressure on the governing body, they mayor himself quit. Walked right off the job with no warning or transition. The day after Super Bowl. The City was in chaos.
    .
    Vice Mayor O’Neill ran the city for a week while they appointed a leader. Lisa Gillmor became that leader. Voted unanimously by the council members that were doing the 49er’s bidding. And then Kathy Watanabe was appointed to take Lisa’s seat. And then, for the first time in decades, a council majority was created and led by people that could not be pressured or influenced. Teresa O’Neill, Debi Davis, Kathy Watenabe are beyond reproach. And Lisa Gillmor, a munti-generation resident of Santa Clara, they were now in charge. They were not looking for power or fame or money. They were in politics for the right reasons…to give back.
    .
    And Mayor Gillmor went to work, shining a light on what the 49ers a d city had been doing or not doing. The lack of transparency was being eradicated, and it wasn’t pretty. The city manager and city attorney bailed. A financial audit was commissioned and the substantial issues with the team surfaced. The auditor finally gave up after months of trying to get financial information out of the team, saying he couldn’t do his job. That was the Harvey Rose folks.
    .
    The levels of deceit, aggressiveness, law suits, and arrogance the 49ers continued to display is what created this situation. A lack of trust. Bullying. How does this demonstrate the character of a long-term partner?
    .
    Sure, you can make everything go away if you are willing to capitulate and act illegally. Look at the behavior and results of convicted felon former vice mayor Anthony Becker. He is quite possibly the perfect manifestation of what has been going on. He was *convicted* by a jury of giving a confidential document to the the 49ers lobbyist (a report that highlights the very thing being done…city council members being too cozy with the 49ers) and then lying about it. And then trying to blame Mayor Gillmor for doing the very actions he did. Oh, and Becker leaked the report this this paper. You can’t make this stuff up. It would be a c-rated film.

  3. Kirk Vartan 4 weeks ago
    Reply

    But hey, I realize this was probably really hard to notice. So keep on blowing your 49ers horn. I have always said the opportunities the stadium brings to Santa Clara are literally limitless. You can be as creative as you want. But you can only do that with a partner you can trust. Trust is the foundation. How can you build anything if you don’t have a partner you can trust and treats you with respect? Really Miles, spell it out. Tell me where I am off base.

  4. Kirk Vartan 3 weeks ago
    Reply

    No comment? That’s what I thought.
    .
    I wonder if you will witness the outcome of your buddy Becker tomorrow. He is a symbol of you. He is the example of the kind of sponsorship this paper provides with your leadership: disgrace.

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