The Santa Clara City Council last night "approved a deal" that allows the 49ers to build their stadium on a Great America parking lot and "lets fans park nearby," according to Sue McAllister of the SAN JOSE MERCURY NEWS. The 4-2 vote "ends four years of controversy." Under the newly approved deal, 49ers fans will be "able to park in most of Great America's main lot, which will be renovated to include as many as 7,000 spaces." Additional parking will be "in two nearby city garages." Until last week, Cedar Fair, which owns Great America, had "resisted giving up any of its lots for a stadium and was suing to block the $1 billion construction project." But the company will "drop the lawsuit as part of the agreement." Santa Clara "agreed to allow the theme park to keep more ... profits when revenues reach a certain threshold." The 49ers will also "pay Cedar Fair $12.5 million as part of the parking agreements." The city also "agreed to allow the theme park to extend its lease from 2039 to 2074, with only modest rent increases during that 35-year period" (SAN JOSE MERCURY NEWS, 1/11).
PRIVATE FINANCING: CSNBayArea.com's Andy Dolich said the 49ers' 13-3 record this season was not a factor in the decision to implement a PSL program in their new stadium, but the "financing basically dictated it." Dolich: "As everybody knows, this is essentially a privately financed stadium. They just got a plan to borrow $850 million. It's going to be a $1.1 billion program so you've got to pay that money back." He continued, "There will never be two new football stadiums built in Northern California, only one. The Raiders have a decision to make: Are they going to partner, are they going to get in quick or are they going to be left to their own devices at 66th avenue?" ("Chronicle Live," Comcast SportsNet Bay Area, 1/9).
