While the 49ers’ management hires paid consultants and lobbyists to help grease the skids for their move to the South Bay, SF Mayor Gavin Newsom is working to keep the team in his city.  The 49ers have hired Kevin Sloat, one of Sacramento’s most talented lobbyists (second only to his partner, the lovely and talented Maureen Higgins) to help block any legislation the SF crowd may try to push to force the team to stay in San Francisco.  In the meantime, Newsom sent a letter to the 49ers proposing that the team considered a stadium in the Hunters Point neighborhood instead of San Jose.

The 49ers didn’t respond very positively to Newsom’s letter (calling it “political gamesmanship”) but I have to think that many fans from the North Bay, East Bay and San Francisco would love to see a deal worked out that settled the team at the former Hunters Point Naval Shipyard.  While I’m no San Francisco Giants fan (exact opposite—the LA Dodgers are my team), I love going to AT&T Park to watch baseball (I just root against whoever is playing the Giants!).  The city scored a homerun with that ballpark, making it easy to get to from all parts of the bay (easy to get there via BART or the ferry system) and a fantastic place to watch ‘s favorite pastime.  One has to think that a 49ers stadium positioned in Hunters Point also take advantage of mass transit and the ferries too.

But in their initial response to Newsom, the 49ers’ management pointed out that the Navy is still trying to clean the land at the shipyard, having already spent $400 million since 1974.  According to the SF Chronicle, the Navy only expects one parcel of the yard to be clean by 2011.

The city also has a major crime problem in Hunters Point and would have to work hard to clean up that neighborhood before football fans will want to flock there (not that the Candlestick Park neighborhood is much better…).

The 49ers may find themselves back in SF trying to work out a deal with Newsom if they can’t make the financial details of any South Bay deal work.  There doesn’t seem to be any interest among the elected officials in the South Bay to impose a new tax their residents to fund a new stadium.  And that is a good thing.  AT&T Park proved that ball parks can be built with private funding.  In this day and age, no local government should be selling their soul to any major sports franchise.  It’s not like public investment guarantees a team’s loyalty to the community (can you say “Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim?”)!

This entry was posted on Wednesday, January 3rd, 2007 at 12:00 am and is filed under Blog Posts.