A criticism of Levi’s Stadium is that it "feels more corporate than cozy," something that 49ers CEO Jed York last week "tacitly acknowledged," according to Eric Branch of the S.F. CHRONICLE. York: "We've talked about this internally: I think we've built a beautiful house. It’s not quite a home. Now the goal is to make it a home. I think it’s starting to feel more like that." He added that coziness "will come with familiarity." Branch noted the stadium's field-level seats throughout the season "were close to barren at the start of third quarters." York suggested that fans "will be less apt to check out the new stadium in Year 2" and that they "will have a better feel for the facility." This means they will likely "know how long it takes to return to their seat for the start of the second half, or will just stay put and order food on their phone." York: "I think when you look at kickoff in the third quarter, the seats might not have been full. But by a minute or two into the quarter, people were back in their seats. And it’s just messaging and getting people to understand ‘OK, it takes me X minutes to get back to my seat.’ I think part of it is messaging and fans learning how to use the stadium." He added that last year’s early-season traffic problems "were solved," and that by the end of the season, fans "exited the stadium in about 45 minutes" -- about half the time it took to leave Candlestick Park. York said of the fans knowing their way around the stadium, "That will get more commonplace the more that we’re there and the more memories that we build together" (S.F. CHRONICLE, 5/23).
