Fourth-Down Conversion For Stadium, 49ers not for sale,
won't leave S.F.
Edward Epstein, Chronicle Staff Writer
Saturday, September 19, 1998

The 49ers stadium plan is back on track, key figures in the troubled project said yesterday, but there are still no guarantees that the complex will ever be built. After a meeting between National Football League Commissioner Paul Tagliabue, 49ers President Larry Thrailkill, San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown and Board of Supervisors President Barbara Kaufman, there were also repeated pledges that the five-time Super Bowl champions are not for sale and will not move. "Every step that needs to be taken incrementally is leading to the development and building of the stadium,'' Brown said at a news conference after the meeting, which was held in his City Hall office. "Will tomorrow happen? I hope to hell it does, but I'm not guaranteeing it,'' the mayor said. In a brief interview later with The Chronicle, Brown described the hourlong meeting as "painful,'' as he sought explanations for how the team could estimate that a 75,000-seat stadium billed last year as costing $325 million could now carry a $500 million price tag. He said part of the problem is what exactly is included in the stadium's estimated costs. Brown indicated that the team had included such items as new roads and preparing an adjoining site for the mall and entertainment complex planned by Mills Corp. in the stadium package. "Give me a break,'' he said. Brown maintained that such costs should be kept separate. A source close to Brown indicated that the mayor might ask the state next year to pay for new on- and off-ramps from Highway 101 and other roads at the Candlestick Point project. That could cost tens of millions of dollars, the source said. The move might stir opposition because such spending would soak up state transportation funds that otherwise could be allocated to other local projects. The city's chances of getting that money could improve if Brown ally Gray Davis wins the governor's election in November. 
 

CRISIS ATMOSPHERE

Yesterday's meeting took on a crisislike atmosphere after Thrailkill said two weeks ago that the team's latest estimate was that the new stadium alone would cost about $500 million, not the $325 million promised to San Francisco voters in June 1997 when they approved the plan. The entire stadium-mall project was originally supposed to cost $525 million. Whatever the total, San Francisco's share will be limited to $100 million in lease revenue bonds, with tax receipts from the mall used to cover the city's interest and principal. With a $500 million stadium price tag, Thrailkill said, the project might not proceed. Thrailkill did not speak to Brown until yesterday, an oversight for which he apologized. "I have not done as good a job at communicating with the mayor as I should have. And he and I are going to remedy this,'' Thrailkill said.
 

REGULAR MEETINGS WITH MAYOR

From now on, the two will meet at least twice monthly. Thrailkill, who succeeded Carmen Policy as 49ers president and stadium point man in July, said the team will soon hire a top executive solely to oversee the stadium project. Thrailkill also attempted to dispel talk that the team's hesitation about proceeding with the project and front-office turmoil spurred by owner Edward DeBartolo's legal troubles might lead to a sale or a move. "The team is not for sale. The current ownership is committed to the stadium project,'' Thrailkill said. "The San Francisco 49ers are committed to being in San Francisco,'' he said. "We're committed to building a stadium for $325 million at Candlestick Point. We committed to the mayor that we will work diligently with the city to get that accomplished.'' Tagliabue said the 49ers would have to take the stadium project "one step at a time. That's what has to happen here, with these project cost estimates.''
 

PATIENCE ADVISED

Tagliabue also criticized reporters for questioning the project's numbers. ``It doesn't do any good to throw a bunch of numbers around like we're taking an eye exam.'' He advised people to be patient and see how the negotiations turn out. Early next week, the 49ers will give the Brown administration its detailed cost estimates and the voluminous analyses done by a host of construction consultants. Representatives from the team, the NFL and the city will then try to find a way to build the stadium-mall project at the originally projected cost. A preliminary environmental impact review should be issued shortly by the City Planning Department. It could contain more bad news on costs in mitigation measures, such as preventing bay pollution or providing public transit. Project planners can also try to bring down those costs.
 

OCTOBER 1999 GROUNDBREAKING

Thrailkill said that if the project gets the final go-ahead, he hopes to break ground in October 1999, right after the Giants finish their last season at 3Com Park. The baseball team is moving to its new, privately financed park at China Basin. The old stadium would remain the 49ers' home until the new stadium is finished. Tagliabue reiterated his commitment to the city to play the January 2003 Super Bowl at the new stadium. Thrailkill said, ``The stadium we build will be one that you will be proud of,'' with all the modern features, including luxury suites, a stadium club, vast concession stands and lots of rest rooms.
 
 

Stadium Model Unveiled
49ers give detailed look at plans for Candlestick Point
Edward Epstein, Chronicle Staff Writer

Hoping to jumpstart a campaign that has yet to capture the public's imagination, the San Francisco 49ers finally unveiled a model of their proposed new stadium yesterday. 

The vision is of a 75,000-seat stadium with three main decks and three levels of expensive suites. The stadium will be much more comfortable for fans than 3Com Park, incorporates echoes of San Francisco landmarks and provides something unique in professional sports -- a physical link with the planned 1.7 million square-foot mall next door. 

The stadium at Candlestick Point would have a canopy covering much of the upper deck facing the playing field, except in the end zones. Crisscrossing cables, sort of a tribute to the Bay Bridge and the rigging of sailing ships on the bay, would hold up the canopy. The color of many of the stadium's seats would be International Orange, the same as the Golden Gate Bridge. 

Another unique feature would be that the planned new stadium would have no soaring light standards. Instead, high-tech, low-glare lighting -- focusing directly on the field -- would be built right into the canopy, the stadium's designers said yesterday. The canopy could also be used for projection lighting of highlights or team logos. 

It was plain as 49ers executives and campaign managers unveiled the design at a St. Francis Hotel press conference that they viewed the long-awaited premiere as a chance to get their lagging campaign for the June 3 election moving. 

San Francisco voters will be asked to approve a $100 million lease revenue bond to help finance the $325 million stadium along with a planning measure spurring construction of the entire $525 million stadium and mall complex. The 49ers and their private partners would fi nance $425 million of the project. ``We are now even more ready to go,'' said team President Carmen Policy, ``because this will energize us to get the job done.'' 

But the opposition to Propositions D and F was not impressed by yesterday's presentation. 

"Questions still remain," said campaign manager Jim Ross. "Where's the financial plan for the mall that shows we'll be able to pay off the $100 million loan for the stadium?'' he asked. Mayor Willie Brown, who has staked his prestige on the passage of Propositions D and F in June, broke away from talks aimed at settling the garbage collectors' strike to view the models -- and say a few words. 

"These physical items will be much more persuasive,'' he said, referring to the renderings. "After people get a whiff of this presentation, there's no doubt people will vote yes on D and F.'' 

The 49ers campaign plans to haul the models around to campaign events, believing that if voters can actually see what they're being asked to vote on, they might be more supportive. The Giants successfully used the same tactic in the 1996 China Basin ballpark campaign. 

The football team also hopes that by building in some quirky features to the stadium they can appeal to San Franciscans who like to think of their city and team as things apart from the run of the mill. 

For instance, the south end of the proposed stadium would feature a huge football-shaped scoreboard. Seating in the end zone would be limited. Instead, an esplanade would lead to the vast entertainment and shopping complex beyond. On game days, fans could pass freely back and forth. 

"We hope to create kind of a Wrigley Field feeling in that end zone,'' said Dan Meis, one of the architects from NBBJ Sports and Entertainment, the young Los Angeles-based firm hired to design the stadium. 

"We're thinking of creating a club in the area. Maybe we'll call it 'Third and Three,' '' said Meis. That was the game situation when Joe Montana and Dwight Clark teamed up for The Catch, the miraculous play in 1982. 

Meis said designers are also thinking of installing airport-like blinking lights around the stadium. When the 49ers score a touchdown, "They'd go off, down into the mall, down to the bay. Then fireworks would go off.'' 

Meis and co-designer Ron Turner said they want as few end-zone seats as possible. All seats in the stadium would be wider than those at 3Com -- a minimum of 20 inches vs. 19 inches today -- and there would be lots more knee room.

All but 27,000 of the seats in the new 75,000-seat stadium would be below the upper deck. ``We are pushing sideline seating,'' said Meis. ``We feel it is better to be a couple of rows higher on the 50- yard line than a few rows lower in the end zone.'' He said that the lower decks would be a little steeper than at 3Com Park, because of design considerations. 

Another architectural firm, DIAQ of Boston, is working on the mall design with the Mills Corp., the developer that would manage the mall along with DeBartolo Entertainment and Simon-DeBartolo Inc. 

The team hoped for an earthquake of news coverage yesterday, but in a campaign where things often haven't gone quite right, the garbage strike and news of recriminations in Oakland over the bungled financing of the Raiders' return stole some of the thunder. 

Brown was asked about the Oakland situation. 

"Oakland had to beg, borrow and bribe to get the Raiders to come back,'' said the mayor, who bristles at comparisons between the 49ers and Raiders deals. 

"How ill-equipped the Oakland people must have been when they negotiated this vs. the talent that's been demonstrated here,'' he said.