Santa Clara Gets $400 Million for 49ers' Future Ticket Rights

BCN—Santa Clara officials overseeing the planned new stadium for the San Francisco 49ers approved more than $400 million in future ticket agreements for the stadium's 2014 opening and are continuing to work with the National Football League about the team's bid to host the Super Bowl in 2016, a spokesman said.

The city's Stadium Authority Board, made up of the town's mayor and city council members, Tuesday executed license agreements with buyers of almost 46,000 seats in the 68,500-seat stadium project set to open in August 2014, city spokesman Dan Beerman said.

The licenses sold so far represent $403 million in fees that will eventually help the city service about $850 million in construction loans to build the $1.2 billion Santa Clara Stadium, Beerman said.

The fee revenues come from sales of stadium builder licenses—also known as personal seat licenses—that cost from $2,000 for a reserved seat to up to $80,000 for one in the exclusive Club Level section, according to a city staff report.

The authority's approved vendor, Legends Premium Sales LLC, has sold licenses to almost 6,800 club seats and around 39,000 reserved seats, city officials reported.

The licenses only give the buyer the right to the seats and do not include the cost of the tickets to each game, which involve an additional purchase, for example $850 per seat per season for the cheapest reserved seats.

In a closed session, the board held a conference with a representative of NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell's office to talk about access to city property if the NFL selected the 49ers' new stadium to host the Super Bowl.

What was specifically discussed is still confidential, but the NFL wants to know what facilities would be available if the 49ers won the bid, such as parking lots, hotels and meeting space, Beerman said.

"The NFL has very specific things they need to do during a Super Bowl event in any city," Beerman said.

The proximity of the stadium site to Santa Clara's convention center might be of key interest to the NFL and the city could have to ask organizations that booked the center around Super Bowl Sunday in early February 2016 to leave, Beerman said.

"We may or may not have someone kicked out," he said. "That's the risk."