The 49ers "have given the opening year of Levi's Stadium about a 'B' grade," but "from the turf that kept being replaced to the ongoing traffic woes to the sterile atmosphere that didn't seem to provide much of a home-field advantage, many 49ers fans were less impressed with the team's first year in Silicon Valley," according to a front-page piece by Mike Rosenberg of the SAN JOSE MERCURY NEWS. The consensus among several dozen season-ticket holders and other fans was that Levi's Stadium "was an overall upgrade over aging Candlestick Park -- and improved as the year went on -- but it wasn't always worth the sky-high cost of admission." There "has been no shortage of flaws that emerged from the opening year," including issues with "overwhelming heat, a strict new code of fan conduct and the sparse crowds during non-NFL events." Perhaps the most commonly cited complaint at Levi's in '14 "was the lack of any loud, unique atmosphere." Rosenberg wrote the stadium's "most-lauded features -- the suites, fast Wi-Fi and playgrounds such as a fantasy football lounge -- also served to distract fans from the action on the field." The stadium's field "proved to be an embarrassment," as the team "is currently on its fifth field after having to re-sod parts or all of the turf about once per month during the season." Earlier in the season, the biggest issue was the "nightmarish exit from the stadium." But 49ers COO Al Guido said that the team "made improvements to each lot and the average exit time shrunk to an hour or less by the end of the year, typical for an NFL game." The 49ers said that they are "proud of the stadium's inaugural year ... but realize it needs to get better, and are already working on improvements for next season, which ends with the stadium hosting Super Bowl 50" (SAN JOSE MERCURY NEWS, 1/1).
