Saturday, April 21, 2012

Going South

The bittersweet local news from earlier this week:

1) the "San Francisco" 49ers will be staying in the Bay Area for the foreseeable future;
2) construction began on the new stadium, set to be completed in the fall of 2014;
3) the stadium is in Santa Clara, not San Francisco.

The Santa Clara stadium vs. Candlestick:


Yes, officials gagged at the price tag for a new stadium.  With the City's annual budget of $6.8 billion, however, it would have seemed that San Francisco has enough resources to finance an asset that would last at least 30 years. Moreover, when the 49ers move away, San Francisco will lose annual net profit of $3.5 million from Candlestick operations and $4.1 million in tax revenues.

With some imagination and courageous leadership, San Francisco may have been able to keep the 49ers. More's the pity, because the City still knows how to do big things.

AT&T Park, the first privately funded ballpark since Dodger Stadium in 1962,  opened to critical acclaim in 2000:
It's hard to say what's best about [AT&T] Park, except that it is San Francisco. The view from the worst seats in the house still gives you a view of the Bay Bridge and the marina.
San Francisco Bay will be home to the 2013 America’s Cup Finals.


When I last was at Candlestick, Bret Favre was the Packers QB.

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