John York Warned Newsome Not to Bank on 49ers for Olympics

[The Vin]

http://www.nbc11.com/news/10308922/detail.html

There you can read a letter to the mayor from John York sent back in September. Basically, he tells Newsome that the 49ers should not be counted as the main draw for a stadium to host the Olympics.

So anyone blaming the 49ers for the city's bid loss needs to educate themselves.

[Peter Proud]

Sounds to me like the 49ers bent over backwards to try and help out with the bid, yet wisely alerted the bid committee that they should be prepared to find other options.

Please note that the 49ers asking their design team to develope a design to accommodate the track inside means that the 49ers used their money to try and help out the city and the bid committee!

[Fez]

I am writing today to respond to your recent letter requesting that we also explore the possibility of incorporating a track into our stadium design that is large enough to host Olympic Track and Field events. This presented a significant design hurdle given the normally incompatible layouts of NFL stadiums and Track and Field venues. Incorporating an Olympic-sized track inside a football stadium would normally push the seating back significantly and thereby negatively impact the sightlines for fans on NFL game days. However, we have worked on this issue with our stadium design partner, HNTB, and the 2016 Bid Committee and have come up with a design that may be able to accommodate your request. A brief overview of our proposal is attached.

But it's all York's fault... if he accepted that, then fans would complain about the new stadium's stands being way too far from the field.

You just can't make York haters happy... but glad you brought this one, Vin. Makes me feel a little more confident about York's committment.

[DraconisRex]

But it's all York's fault... if he accepted that, then fans would complain about the new stadium's stands being way too far from the field.

You just can't make York haters happy... but glad you brought this one, Vin. Makes me feel a little more confident about York's committment.


In a different thread I put a graphic of the LA Coliseum and a picture of Qwest field.

You can easily see how an Olympic Stadium is too big and how about one-third the capacity will be useless without huge modifications or temporary seating.

Yet the City is expecting York to build them, withinsufficient support, a billion dollar Olypic-capable stadium.

I really don't believe the people of the City of San Francisco even care. They certainly aren't the ones who support the 49ers who have a very good idea of where most of their fans come from based on season ticket sales.

It's believed about 60-something percent of the 49ers' season-ticket fan base calls the South Bay or the Peninsula home, so as York said, "it's just an accepted fact that our fan base is grown out, and there are plenty of fans in the South Bay." It's also believed more season-ticket holders hail from Sacramento County than the city of San Francisco.

More people from Sacramento County than San Francisco? That's pathetic. But it does show that the 49ers have out-grown the local city-market. Like most MLB, NBA & Big Program College teams.

And it's not like I blame the City for not trying hard to keep the 49ers. The revenues from the stadium won't so much be new tax revenues, but tax revenues canibalized from other attractions. Also, it makes little economci sense to keep the 49ers. People forget that San Francisco is one of the top destination cities in the world. The pittance of sales and hotel taxes from 49er games is NOTHING compared to the effects of a decent convention. Better for them to keep that cash-cow going then sink money into a stadium for a team that plays 10 3-hour events a year.

What I do blame the City for is the disengenous way they've gone about their side. Playing politics by casting themselves as "victims" when they're just not interested for sound economic reasons.

[yayareafanatic]

Totally agree with everything said above. Many people living in San Francisco, most have moved into the city in the past 10 to 20 years, aren't even 49er fans or even sports fans. For the past few years, a stadium project has been a side-bar to other "hot" political issues. Many of the supervisors, some who moved to San Francisco to further their political careers, have adamantly opposed the use of any public money to support a stadium.

However, with the reality of the Niners leaving, we're now hearing complaints from politicians about how the Niners are turning their backs on the city and on the young children of the city who look up to the players.

Now with the USOC coming in a saying the Niners single-handedly killed the Olympic bid is downright ignorant. It's hard to believe that the who plan of brining the Olympics to San Francisco hinged upon York to foot the bill for the main attraction of the Olymics.

Sidenote: some of the other cities vying for the 2016 Olymics are Madrid, Rio de Janiero, and Prague. I don't know about you guys, but I'd rather go to Rio and watch the Olymics.

[arch]

...but I'd rather go to Rio and watch the Olymics.

It would have been nice to see the Olympics in my own backyard. too bad, it would have been a once in a lifetime experience for San Francisco and the bay area.

[Giedi]

It would have been nice to see the Olympics in my own backyard. too bad, it would have been a once in a lifetime experience for San Francisco and the bay area.

I inded would be nice. But it would be much nicer to get some re-deveopment in the Hunters Point area. God knows that it is a really bad neighborhood, just like the China Basin was two decades ago, now the China Basin is revitalized. I can see something like that happening in the south of China Basin or perhaps more towards the Hunters Point area.

All I can say with regards to that letter is that clearly there was some miscommunication going on. Whoever got the letter didn't send it to the right people in time, or somehow got misplaced, or put in a *to do* bin that never was reviewd.

Miscomminication can be cleared up or prevented with a much more active participants. Sending letters to folks, sometimes just doesn't work. And definitely if you send the government a letter - 9 times out of 10 they will misplace it. That's why it's so important for York to be much more of a take charge guy with regards to this stadium deal. York has to put forth a much more personal effort from here on in to prevent misunderstandings and to personally talk with the other side in these current negotiations.

The olympic opportunity is trashed. There is nothing anybody can do about it now, but the Stadium Deal isn't dead, and it's my hope something can be worked out, so long as BOTH parties are flexible and can compromise. If they can't then clearly, Santa Clara is a viable option. But I think it would be a much more interesting development to have it in Hunters Point. Look at East Palo Alto, the murder capital of the USA a decade or two ago, now it's very nice retail commercial area down around the interchange. Nothing is impossible.

Giedi

[Giedi]

Totally agree with everything said above. Many people living in San Francisco, most have moved into the city in the past 10 to 20 years, aren't even 49er fans or even sports fans. For the past few years, a stadium project has been a side-bar to other "hot" political issues. Many of the supervisors, some who moved to San Francisco to further their political careers, have adamantly opposed the use of any public money to support a stadium.

However, with the reality of the Niners leaving, we're now hearing complaints from politicians about how the Niners are turning their backs on the city and on the young children of the city who look up to the players.

Now with the USOC coming in a saying the Niners single-handedly killed the Olympic bid is downright ignorant. It's hard to believe that the who plan of brining the Olympics to San Francisco hinged upon York to foot the bill for the main attraction of the Olymics.

Sidenote: some of the other cities vying for the 2016 Olymics are Madrid, Rio de Janiero, and Prague. I don't know about you guys, but I'd rather go to Rio and watch the Olymics.

I too think the Olympics is merely a side deal or a side benefit to the city, hinging upon a good stadium deal. I dont' think it has an irreversable effect on the current stadium negotiatons, but clearly it's caused hurt feelings on the side of San Francisco.

I think with the city facing some decent competition from Santa Clara - it's my hope they will be more flexible and compromise on what has to be compromised on to keep the team in San Francisco.

I totally think the areas around San Francisco still remain buildable, and I think the planning spent on the Olympics can still be put to some use for a perhas new stadium plan.

Giedi

[Giedi]

But it's all York's fault... if he accepted that, then fans would complain about the new stadium's stands being way too far from the field.

You just can't make York haters happy... but glad you brought this one, Vin. Makes me feel a little more confident about York's committment.

But if York can't build a stadium in San Francisco, who are you going to blame? The Towel boy? The team is owned by York. The stadium benefits the Team and York and the City. It's York and the San Francisco Political figures who will be blamed if the team moves to Santa Clara.

As for York writing letters and accepting modifications to the Stadium that detract from the fan experience, they are still in the study/planning phase of it all. No need to set things in iron at the moment. And even AFTER things have been set in stone, look at the public outcry over the Twin Towers project, the thing had to be re-done because of the public outcry. So nothing had been set in stone, and it's unfortunate that such ill feelings have been generated from Yorks actions. However, the whole situation is eminently salvagable, so long as everybody calms down and really sit down and think of the possibilities and forget past acrimony.

Giedi

[zedrational]

All I can say with regards to that letter is that clearly there was some miscommunication going on. Whoever got the letter didn't send it to the right people in time, or somehow got misplaced, or put in a *to do* bin that never was reviewd.
Or maybe the mayor's dog ate it.

Jeez...