49ers break ground on new stadium

Posted by IronPlanet on Apr 19, 2012 9:17:00 PM

The San Francisco 49ers have officially broken ground on a new stadium in Santa Clara, Calif., which the team hopes to be playing in for the 2014 NFL season.

The 49ers are officially moving from their home in Candlestick Park, which is located in San Francisco proper. The new stadium is south of the city in Santa Clara, which is actually closer to San Jose than San Francisco.

The team held a lavish groundbreaking ceremony on the future site of the 50-yard line. Team owner Jed York, head coach Jim Harbaugh and past and present 49ers including Vernon Davis and Patrick Willis were on hand to celebrate the occasion, reports The Associated Press.

"I'm honored," Willis, a Pro Bowl linebacker, told the news source. "This day is huge. So many people have worked on this for so long, and this day is all about them. It's finally here."

The high-end affair included nearly 3,000 season ticket holders and members of the organization, along with locals from Santa Clara. The suit-and-tie ball featured confetti, champagne and cakes that celebrated the team's long history.

Head coach Jim Harbaugh delivered a speech with his traditional fire that seemed to galvanize the supporters of the team. The 49ers bounced back this year since hiring Harbaugh as coach, making it to the NFC Championship Game before losing to the eventual Super Bowl champions, the New York Giants.

"I see a team building with a shovel in one hand and a sword in the other," he told the crowd.

The new facility is a 68,500-seat stadium featuring 165 luxury suites, 9,000 club seats and state-of-the-art technology in just about every area, including a solar-paneled rooftop garden that will allow food to be grown on-site. The stadium is actually expandable to 75,000 seats, allowing it to host major events like the Super Bowl, which York says he hopes to host in 2016 or 2017. While officially home to the 49ers alone, the field was designed for multiple uses, and complies with FIFA regulations. Several sources have speculated that it could hold a FIFA World Cup Final if the competition ever took place in the United States.

The $1.2 billion project is contracted to Turner/Devcon. The pressure is on the contractors to have the stadium ready in time for the beginning of the 2014 season. The contract stipulates that for every game the 49ers miss in the new stadium for 2014, Turner/Devcon will be fined $6 million. However, finishing the project before the 2014 NFL preseason will result in a $5 million bonus.

The project is primarily being funded through an $850 million loan, with the rest of the cost being made up by the city of Santa Clara and the NFL.

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Topics: Construction, Industry Headlines