The City of Santa Clara and the 49ers have settled their differences. In a joint statement released tonight, the City announced that the Santa Clara Stadium Authority and the 49ers resolved long-standing disputes connected to public safety expenses, buffet costs for Legacy seat license holders and other operational expenses for Levi’s Stadium.
The agreement will reduce the amount that the Stadium Authority owes the 49ers by $7.5 million, bringing the total payment down to $14.8 million. According to the City’s release, it will also deliver $7.1 million to the City of Santa Clar for performance rent.
In addition to the financial settlement, the City and the 49ers have agreed to amend several agreements. Under the previous agreement, the 49ers paid the City for public safety costs at NFL games, but there was a Public Safety Threshold, and the Stadium Authority reimbursed the 49ers for any amount paid over that threshold each game. This new agreement increases the threshold by $108,000 per game.
The settlement agreement will also add a $4 per ticket surcharge for non-NFL events to “help offset the Stadium Authority’s commitment to fund a portion of NFL public safety.”
“We believe the Settlement Agreement addresses key concerns and provides a fair and advantageous resolution for the Stadium Authority and Santa Clara residents,” said Jōvan D. Grogan, Executive Director of the Stadium Authority and Santa Clara City Manager, in a statement to the media. “By settling this dispute and restructuring terms in the original agreements that helped bring the 49ers to Santa Clara, we were able to achieve both immediate and long-term financial benefits for the City of Santa Clara. As a result of the Settlement Agreement, we project that Santa Clara’s general fund will receive $20M in total revenue from Levi’s® Stadium over the next two years.”
“The approval of this settlement fast tracks $20M to the City General Fund, and puts an end to all remaining litigation between the 49ers and the Stadium Authority. We look forward to beginning this new phase of collaboration and partnership with the City,” said Jihad Beauchman, EVP and General Counsel for the San Francisco 49ers.
This settlement is the result of talks that heated up in late March when the 49ers offered $18 million and some concessions to settle the remaining litigation. The Council met in closed session to discuss the matter and voted in early April to issue a counteroffer to the 49ers.
You can read the entire settlement agreement here.
The amendments to the Stadium Lease, Ground Lease and other agreements from the settlement will appear on the agenda for the May 28 meeting of the Stadium Authority and the City Council. The meeting starts at 7 p.m.
Our two favorite Karens voted against this, of course. After spending big on many things, including litigation, they think there was a better deal to be had and the majority on the Council sold out. So they think they could have done better? They had so many years to fix the problems and were totally unsuccessful.
It’s long past time for Gillmor and Watanabe to be ousted.
You nailed it.
Agreed.
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Jovan Grogan appears to be a competent manager and released documents indicate the City will receive more than what the original agreement speficied. Watanabe is less than 6 months away election, her opposition isn’t about competently reading financial statements – its about keeping her anti-49ers campaign alive.