Update @ 11:35: We managed to get our grubby little hands on the press release about an hour before the conference - and it was sent out only an hour before we put up our first post. One of their goals for the naming is "To provide a really cool name for the citizens of the San Francisco Bay Area and the fans of the 49ers to rally around." What would be nice is a cool new stadium and a quality team, and $750,000 a year gets you two rookies on special teams and new carpet in the luxury booths.

Update @ 10:40: The latest release, this time from the 49ers, with quotes from Mayor Newsom, Monster CEO Noel Lee and David Peart of the Niners. The story has also been picked up on the national wire.

Update @ 8:30: Well, now it's official in the Chronicle and the Examiner. Monster will have to lay out approximately six million dollars, with half being paid immediately to the city and the other half to the 49ers. The Mayor's office has promised that the money would go to to the San Francisco Recreation and Park Department. Since the rights extend from the 49ers game on Sunday until 2008, the team will get about $750,000 a year in installments.

Noel Lee, Richmond District native and founding chairman of Brisbane's Monster Cable is a sports enthusiast - though there are rumors that his ambitions in the sporting arena have sometimes upset the balance at his company. SFist wonders about the company's financial health after the six million dollar purchase of the naming rights for Candlestick Park, seeing as how the company is not known for large scale marketing campaigns, instead focusing on advertising through its distributors and partners.