The 49ers will not "be counting on Santa Clara to lead their pitch to host Super Bowl 50," as the club is "teaming up with San Francisco to bring the NFL's golden anniversary title game" to its new South Bay stadium, according to Mike Rosenberg of the SAN JOSE MERCURY NEWS. The agreement is part of a new deal struck last week to "allow the franchise to escape its lease" at Candlestick Park in '14, when the 49ers are slated to begin playing in Santa Clara. Rosenberg wrote, "That's not the only way Silicon Valley's new football fiance is keeping its gaze on the City by the Bay," as the 49ers will "give Candlestick Park employees a leg-up over South Bay workers for many jobs in the new stadium." A term in the pact between S.F. and the team "gives jobs at the new Santa Clara stadium to as many as 500 concessions employees at Candlestick, dropping the number of total available positions at the new field by as much as 19 percent." Santa Clara officials "had cited job opportunities for locals as a main reason" for approving the $1.2B project." Santa Clara City Council member Jamie McLeod said, "It directly contradicts what the team committed to." Rosenberg writes along with the team keeping the S.F. designation in its name, the South Bay region "always will have to share ownership of the adored NFL franchise" (SAN JOSE MERCURY NEWS, 5/12).
