Santa Clara’s general fund will see $7 million in profits from non-NFL events at Levi’s Stadium — performance rent — that has been languishing in a stadium legal contingency fund for almost two years. The final lawsuit settlement with the 49ers released the money from the contingency fund.
“Based on the terms of the settlement,” said Santa Clara PIO Janine De la Vega, “Santa Clara Stadium Authority will use the budgeted funds in the legal contingency reserve to pay the city for performance rents owed in fiscal years 2022/23 [through] 2024/25. The remaining funds will be used to pay for fiscal year 2024/25 buffet costs and excess public safety costs credits owed to StadCo.”*
The city is waiting for the stadium construction lender to approve ground and stadium lease amendments that were approved as part of the settlement, said De la Vega, before finalizing the performance rent and paying the money owed the City.
The settlement should put a stop to Mayor Lisa Gillmor’s and her supporters’ deceptive claims that the city’s general fund hasn’t benefitted from Levi’s Stadium, arguments resting on the money’s presence in the legal contingency account instead of the performance rent account. Gillmor has consistently opposed settling litigation with the 49ers despite the $1 million the litigation ate up annually.
Levi’s Stadium performance rent has boosted Santa Clara’s general fund by $14 million since it opened in 2014, and City Manager Jovan Grogan estimated that the settlement will inject another $20 million into the general fund over the next two years.
Levi’s Stadium has added $35.6 million in incremental revenue to Santa Clara’s general fund in the last decade from performance rent, ticket and parking fees, and incremental sales tax, according to a 2023 study commissioned by the San Francisco 49ers and published last October by Emeryville-based Sports Economics.
*StadCo is the 49ers’ Stadium Management Company.
wait we had Money from the niners?
its been sitting in an account?
and Mayor Lisa Gillmor and Kathy Watanabe refused for it to be moved into the general Fund?
Shock Horror
meanwhile the so called Santa Clara five continue to get slammed with ‘stories, gossip, court cases, etc’ it the Pelosi Playbook