An investigative report released yesterday by the Santa Clara County Civil Grand Jury said that the city of Santa Clara "cut a bad financial deal" with the 49ers "over the operation of publicly owned Levi’s Stadium more than 10 years ago, and there’s not much the city can do now to improve matters." A number of "flaws in the contracts -- and poor decisions and lack of oversight by officials with the city’s Stadium Authority -- led to the ongoing financial wrangling between the city and NFL team," the report said. While no taxpayer funds have been spent to pay off the stadium’s bonds, the report maintained the city "probably has lost out on significant revenue from concerts and other non-NFL events at the stadium." That’s because the city "agreed to allow the 49ers to manage the stadium," but it "failed to include controls to force the team to maximize profitability of non-NFL events" (S.F. CHRONICLE, 6/13).
Watchdog: Santa Clara cut bad deal with 49ers
