SANTA CLARA— In the ongoing feud between the city of Santa Clara and the San Francisco 49ers, the city is trying to terminate the team’s management and operation of Levi’s Stadium entirely, voting unanimously in a closed session Tuesday to end their agreement for both National Football League and non-football entertainment events.
The city council vote does nothing to immediately change the 49ers’ management of the stadium, because the team has already sued the city in Santa Clara County Superior Court over an attempt in September to strip the team of its authority to manage non-football events. Until the judge rules, the team’s oversight over Levi’s Stadium will not change.
City Attorney Brian Doyle said the city has recently received additional information about fraud, misappropriation and willful misconduct by the 49ers that gives the city the grounds to terminate the contract.
In a Feb. 10 court declaration, Doyle accused Al Guido, president of the 49ers Stadium Management Company, of conflicts of interest in approving a sponsorship agreement for a college football event at Levi’s, the Redbox Bowl, an event the team also owns and manages.
Doyle’s filing also said the team has not shared full financial documentation for a number of contracts where they did not pay prevailing wage and were issuing backpay to workers.
Rahul Chandhok, Vice President of Public Affairs & Strategic Communications for the 49ers, said the vote is clearly “an act of retaliation after it became public that the 49ers would join civil rights leaders to defeat Measure C.”
The 49ers recently poured more than $300,000 into a campaign committee to oppose Measure C, a ballot measure pushed by the city’s mayor and council majority to change the city’s district elections system put in place by a judge in 2018.
“The City’s latest announcement is just another step in a self-destructive process they began years ago as part of a petty political vendetta. All of those efforts failed, just as this latest attempt will also fail,” Chandhok said in a statement.
Doyle called Chandhok’s accusation “ridiculous.”
“None of that has anything to do with Measure C,” said Doyle.
In September, the City Council sent a letter to Al Guido, president of the 49ers Stadium Management Company, to end the team’s management agreement effective Nov. 15, citing mismanagement of the stadium, possible conflicts of interest and a floor-polishing contract where the team failed to get proper city approval and also did not pay prevailing wages, stiffing 26 workers more than $85,000. That action would not affect the team’s home games or other National Football League activities.
The team almost immediately filed a lawsuit disputing the city’s action.
With Tuesday’s vote, the city will now be seeking to kill the whole agreement and strip the 49ers of all management and operation responsibilities for Levi’s Stadium, including of their own football games. The city eventually wants to hire a third party to manage the stadium.
The city has also revoked the 49ers’ authority to spend on stadium operations and maintenance without first getting approval from the council.
