Santa Clara will relinquish its youth soccer fields for use during the Super Bowl.

Amid swarming concerns, the Santa Clara City Council voted unanimously to allow the National Football League (NFL) to use city-owned youth soccer parks during Super Bowl LX Feb. 8, 2026. 

Doing so would provide $1.25 million worth of benefits to the city, said Damon Sparacino, the city’s parks and recreation director. Those benefits include grass and sprinkler replacement on the fields to be used as media hubs and practice areas for half-time performers. 

“Receiving the community benefit to rehabilitate the natural grass fields helps the city extend, and or otherwise leverage these funds I am mentioning to take care of other extensive list of unfunded capital projects, both at [the youth soccer park] as well as located throughout the rest of the city,” Sparacino said.

The NFL will use the fields from Jan. 5 to Feb. 22. Because the fields are in the security perimeter, they would be unavailable for use by youth groups during the period. 

City Manager Jovan Grogan said the arrangement allows the city to collect more community benefit than simply leasing the fields to the NFL for use. He added that city employees don’t anticipate damage to the fields. 

But not everyone agreed that it was a net gain for the city.

Mayor Lisa Gillmor called the money a “minimum obligation,” adding that city employees’ estimates of the wear on the fields were “very aspirational.”

“I want to be very clear: destroying our fields and rebuilding them is not a benefit, it’s mitigation for the damage they are causing,” she said.

But Grogan pushed back, saying that was “simply not true,” adding that the NFL will not be using one of the fields it is replacing.

Maria Mukhar was just eight years old when Super Bowl 50 came to Santa Clara, but she said she remembers the toll the NFL using the fields took on them. She implored the council to consider the full scope of the agreement.

“To you, they might just seem like plots of land that have money associated with them, but to me, and thousands of other athletes, and youth soccer players, they’re a home that people go to after a long day of school, after a long day of anything that they have going on. And they go to those fields just to enjoy their time, to score their first goal or take their cleats off for the last time,” she said.

With the provision that city employees continue to work with local youth soccer agencies, the council approved the agreement unanimously. 

Council Approves Hike to Power Rates

The council also approved a 4% increase to Silicon Valley Power (SVP) rates.

Nico Procos, director of SVP, said the increase would cost residents between $2.06 and $7.02 more a month. Meanwhile, industrial customers such as data centers would pay an additional $121,663 per month, while the city’s five largest customers would see a $247,793 a month uptick.

Procos said the city’s industrial base, which already generates more than 90% of SVP’s revenue, is projected to continue to grow significantly.

Kenn Lee, finance director, said increased renewable energy, equipment and material costs, as well as the city funneling more money into its reserves have all necessitated the increase.

However, several public commenters challenged whether the rate increase would be necessary if SVP wasn’t expanding to accommodate data centers.

Council Member Kevin Park shared the sentiment.

“I’m worried we have a pyramid scheme where we’re chasing new customers with more and more load development fees to backfill the infrastructure that we never put in and to backfill the money we’ve already spent,” he said.

Grogan cautioned the council about jumping to conclusions prior to the city’s cost of services study, which he said will be “enlightening.”

Vice Mayor Kelly Cox pushed back against the notion that data centers are responsible for increasing residents’ rates.

“I think it would be important for us to start with the message of what would it look like for rate-payers if data centers weren’t here and what would they be paying then, because it would be wildly more than they are paying now,” she said.  “So, this idea that we as residents are subsidizing is actually backward. We get cheaper rates because of the data center, industrial usage in our city.”

The council approved the rate increase in a 5-2 vote, with Gillmor joining Park in dissenting. 

Small Townhouse Development Gets Go-Ahead

The council also unanimously approved a small residential development.

The development, located at 4503 Cheeney St., would add six townhomes to the city’s housing stock. One of the homes would be available at below-market-rate at the moderate-income level.

Afshan Hamid, the city’s community development director, said the project meets all parking requirements despite resident concerns that construction would burden parking in the area. She said the project would create “no undue burden” on the area.

The planning commission had previously approved the project unanimously in November, and the council followed suit with minimal discussion and no public comment. 

Consent Calendar Spending

The council approved the following spending in one motion via the consent calendar:

• A $12 million in purchase orders with Dell Marketing, SHI International, CDW Government, Carahsoft Technology Corp., Presidio Network Solutions, Insight Public Sector, TD Synnex Corporation, for information technology products and services for Silicon Valley Power.
• A one-year, $150,000 contract with Allana Buick & Bers, Inc. for roofing consulting.
• A $1.4 million contract with BKF Engineers for the bicycle, pedestrian and green stormwater improvement.
• A $250,000 increase to a contract with HydroScience Engineers, Inc. for hydraulic modeling calibration. Total contract is now $500,000.
• A $409,088 contract with Claris Strategy Inc. for the threat and vulnerability assessment and utility security plan.

The next council meeting is at 7 p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 17, in the Council Chambers at City Hall, 1500 Warburton Ave. in Santa Clara.

Members of the public can participate in the City Council meetings on Zoom at https://santaclaraca.zoom.us/j/99706759306; Meeting ID: 997-0675-9306 or call 1 (669) 900-6833, via the City’s eComment (available during the meeting) or by email to PublicComment@santaclaraca.gov.

Contact David Alexander at d.todd.alexander@gmail.com

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SVP Contract Sparks Debate About System Expansion
Special Event Zone for FIFA, Super Bowl Delayed
City Defers Developer Impact Fees In Hopes Of Bolstering Housing Stock