San Franciscans, avert your gaze.
The Bay Area News Group has video of yesterday's groundbreaking for the new 49ers' stadium in Santa Clara.
Said the San Jose Mercury News:
Ushering in a new era, the 49ers celebrated with all the pageantry of an event six years in the making, as supporters who have been sweating out the project's fate were finally able to exhale. The team even announced the stadium's first corporate sponsor, San Jose-based Brocade — although the lucrative stadium naming rights deal is still up for grabs.
Said the San Francisco Chronicle's Niner Insider Blog:
(I)s the ground-breaking to be celebrated? Yes, but in muted fashion because the 49ers will soon have a state of the art facility that should keep the team competitive and even though saying “San Francisco 49ers” will be somewhat of a falsehood when the team moves South, at least it’s better than saying “Los Angeles 49ers.”
The Chron's Gwen Knapp today recaps the history of how San Francisco, through two mayoral administrations, lost its bid to hold onto the team. She also offers this for disgruntled locals...
In the end, the decision might not be fateful for the city. The financial benefits of hosting a professional football team involve murky math, and some Santa Clara residents remain distressed that the city's $850 million in loans for the stadium will benefit no one but the 49ers and their most affluent fans.