The 49ers provided a fairly basic statement to NBC Bay Area in connection with the story regarding a threat from Santa Clara’s mayor to take control of Levi’s Stadium. In response to the PFT item regarding the NBC Bay Area story, the 49ers have issued a much more pointed and aggressive reply.
“The Mayor’s accusations that money is going from the City’s General Fund into the stadium are false and irresponsible,” the 49ers said in a statement provided to PFT. “As the Mayor surely knows, since she voted for the agreements, the stadium does not use General Fund money. In fact, funds are flowing into the General Fund from the stadium. The 49ers Stadium Management Company has generated over $5.5 million for the City’s General Fund over the last two years, plus an additional $2 million in fees to the City. On top of that, another $2 million has also gone to the Discretionary Fund.”
The suddenly-ugly fight apparently traces to politics. With a local election upcoming, the belief (as one source explained it to PFT) is that Mayor Lisa Gillmor hopes that attacks on the team will prop up her preferred slate of anti-49ers candidates. A $200,000 independent audit also is believed to be part of that effort.
“The successful management of Levi’s Stadium by the 49ers Stadium Management Company has allowed the Santa Clara Stadium Authority to reduce its outstanding debt by over $200 million since opening, and fund over $16 million in cash reserves,” the 49ers added in the statement issued to PFT. “Those figures do not even include the significant increase in sales and hotel tax revenues generated by the stadium, hotels and other local businesses that will contribute to the Santa Clara General Fund on an annual basis as a direct result of the ongoing operation of Levi’s Stadium.”
The 49ers told NBC Bay Area that they will be providing information requested by the auditor on Monday. That should result in the truth coming out, eventually.
Of course, the goal may be to keep the truth under wraps until Tuesday, November 8 comes and goes. When elections are looming, truth routinely takes a backseat to political agendas. And with local elections capable of being every bit as nasty as national ones, it would hardly be a shock to learn that reality is being distorted to help secure votes.