Readers of SFist's smash hit weekly football feature Daisy Does the Niners are well aware of the myriad, unintended problems with the team’s still new-ish $1.3 billion Levi’s Stadium the unbearably hot lack of shade on gameday, the corporate culture that results in empty seats, and a team generating so little interest that parking now costs more than a game ticket. But another boondoggly oversight has the 49ers in a snit with the City of Santa Clara, as CBS 5 reports that Santa Clara’s mandated 10 p.m. curfew has the 49ers threatening to cancel all weeknight concerts in the future.
Breaking: Santa Clara's hard line on 10 pm curfew leads @49ers to declare moratorium on weekday concerts. @CBSSF pic.twitter.com/sAbt6zDkdA
— Joe Vazquez (@joenewsman) September 28, 2017
The above letter was obtained by Joe Vazquez, and is the 49ers’ official threat that Wednesday’s Coldplay concert will be the last weeknight concert ever at the stadium. “The stadium manager will not, until directed otherwise, book any future weekday concerts since it is not possible to ensure concerts end at 10:00 p.m. as this is out of line with national tours,” writes 49ers president Al Guido in the letter to the Santa Clara Stadium Authority.
A Levi’s concert can generate an estimated $800,000 for the city, according to KRON 4. That’s plenty of lost revenue for Santa Clara, whose taxpayers are already on the hook for many of the stadium’s operating costs.
But residents have been complaining about the weeknight noise ever since U2 went well after their 10 p.m. curfew in May (for which they were charged a $1000 fine). Just last week, Ed Sheeran canceled his scheduled concert at Levi’s Stadium over the 10 p.m. requirement.
The $1,000 fine ought to seem like peanuts for the operators of a $1.3 billion facility, but obviously this is more of a political tug-of-war with the citizenry you don't beg to have a stadium built in your town and then balk when concerts go past 10 p.m. And it seems even more nuts that so many obviously foreseeable issues have plagued a stadium that opened with such lofty and transformative aspirations.
Whatever, Santa Clara. All the good shows are gonna come to the Warriors Arena (sorry, Chase Center) anyway, so you might want to take the money while you can.
Related: 49ers Season Ticket Holders Give Up, Scramble To Offload Tickets