In 2010, I helped lead the fight against the public subsidy for the 49ers stadium, and I have never been shy about scrutinizing this team’s deals with our city.
As election season heats up, Mayor Lisa Gillmor, former Councilmember Kathy Watanabe, and candidates who share their narrative are eager to paint the 49ers as the villains in every issue tied to Levi’s Stadium.
But this story conveniently skips over an essential chapter: the one where Lisa Gillmor and her council colleagues signed off on a stadium deal in 2011 that left Santa Clara on the hook for mounting, unchecked costs. Kathy Watanabe was one of the deal’s most visible supporters. Worse, neither has ever taken accountability for the deal stadium supporters originally negotiated. Instead, they rail against the 49ers, deflecting from decisions that left taxpayers carrying the costs of an NFL stadium.
That brings me to a claim I keep hearing this election season: that the current council majority did whatever the 49ers wanted. The five members of that majority all had independent expenditure support from the team in their campaigns. So, the argument goes, they must have been taking orders.
Let’s look at what they actually did.
The 2011 stadium lease capped public safety reimbursement at $170,000 per game, with only a 4 percent annual increase. It had no way to adjust that cap when actual costs exceeded it, and they exceeded it right away. It also had no limit on what the city could be asked to reimburse for luxury suite catering.
The council majority of the last several years renegotiated those terms. They more than doubled the public safety reimbursement rate. They put a reasonable cap on the catering costs. Those are real, lasting savings for Santa Clara taxpayers, and they came from the council members the team supposedly controlled.
By law, independent expenditure committees operate separately from candidates. A council member can’t direct them and doesn’t answer to them. A record like this one shows what that means in practice. Support in an election is not a vote in the council chambers. These members were elected to serve residents, and on this deal, they did.
I’d also add something personal. Two members of that majority, Councilmembers Karen Hardy and Suds Jain, stood with me in opposing the stadium subsidy back in 2010. I know who they are, and I know they were not puppets of anyone.
And to those who believe that constant confrontation with the team would have produced a better deal: that is magical thinking. Better deals come from preparation, from reading the agreements carefully, and from sitting across the table and negotiating. That is how this council majority got results that years of finger-pointing never did.
As this election season continues, I’d ask everyone to judge officials by what they delivered. On the stadium, the current council majority delivered a better deal for Santa Clara.
Michele Ryan
Former Chair
Santa Clara Plays Fair