The Santa Clara City Council on Tuesday night "overwhelmingly rejected" a $3M offering from the 49ers "amid a contentious debate over the team's attempt to take over a youth soccer park for VIP parking at Levi's Stadium," according to a front-page piece by Joe Rodriguez of the SAN JOSE MERCURY NEWS. City Council member Lisa Gillmor after the 6-1 vote said, "It didn't feel right. It didn't pass the smell test." Rodriguez notes the 49ers in April "offered to pay" $15M in "advance to lease three city owned soccer fields for 39 years, plus a 20-year option, for parking and possible development." The 49ers also offered an additional $3M to "improve the local school district's fields." Niners COO Al Guido "appeared in person at City Hall on April 21 to pitch the long-term rental agreement as a 'win-win.'" But an "overflow crowd denounced the deal as a giveaway to the team and a loss for youth soccer." The team then made its offer for the $3M donation "in a Tuesday letter as a goodwill gesture apart from the tabled offers to the city and school district." Gillmor said the city "frequently accepts donations, large and small, with no strings attached." But she worried that accepting the 49ers' donation "might have given the team a 'hook' on the city-owned fields and obligated the city to keep negotiating with the team" (SAN JOSE MERCURY NEWS, 5/14).
