The San Francisco 49ers stand one victory away from their first championship in 25 years. If that victory comes to pass, the celebration for that win will be in downtown San Francisco.
According to Scott Ostler of the San Francisco Chronicle, former Mayor Willie Brown said that the parade to honor the team will be in San Francisco.
While it would normally seem obvious that a team would have its victory celebration in the city bearing its name, the 49ers no longer have a direct physical connection to San Francisco. Both their training facility and Levi’s Stadium are located in the city of Santa Clara, which resides 40 miles to the south of their previous home at Candlestick Park.
Brown, while saying he isn’t directly involved in the planning, brushed off the suggestion of the parade being in Santa Clara in part due to the city’s proclivity to end up in court with the team on a regular basis.
“And besides that,” Brown said, “there’s no way you can have a parade in Santa Clara. What do they have, one shopping mall?”
While planning a victory parade for a victory that has yet to happen can appear highly presumptive, the logistics to put such a production together on short notice is challenging and the wheels for such an event are usually in motion before the games ever kickoff. If the 49ers can bring a sixth Lombardi trophy back to California, the team can party like it’s 1995 in its namesake city.