Imagine if you started a bakery. You took a risk, and naturally, you’ll do everything possible to make the bakery a success. You’ll advertise your business and invite people in for free cookies. You’ll invite local officials and news outlets to a ribbon cutting.
What you won’t do is go out and tell the world that your cookies are overpriced, taste terrible, and crooks run the cafes selling them. That would be like killing the goose that lays golden eggs.
But folks, that is what Santa Clara has done with Levi’s Stadium.
Fifteen years ago, Santa Clara decided to build a major-league entertainment venue and structured financing so stadium revenues paid for construction — not the taxpayers. Levi’s Stadium was built on time and under budget and hosted a Super Bowl during its second year of operation.
Since then, the stadium has hosted performers like the Rolling Stones and Taylor Swift. This fiscal year alone Santa Clara has seen $4.25 million in profits to the city’s bottom line. That’s on top of about $40 million the general fund has banked since Levi’s opened in 2014.
And on top of paying down the construction debt to $220 million from its original $800 million — with not even one dime from taxpayers.
Other cities would shout this success from the hilltops. Communities buried under stadium debt would be delirious to announce results like this. The tagline “Santa Clara — Home of the 49ers and Levi’s Stadium” would be everywhere.
Instead, for ten years, Mayor Lisa Gillmor and her allies have denied the city’s achievements.
For the last ten years, they’ve been running down the stadium and blocking city profits with event-killing curfews and lawsuits to profit lawyers at the expense of taxpayers. Right now, they’re working as hard as they can to throw a monkey wrench into the 2026 Super Bowl and World Cup games.
The Destination Marketing Organization the city hired doesn’t even mention Levi’s Stadium on its Discover Santa Clara landing page. The stadium is only mentioned two levels down, in reference to the 2026 World Cup. No mention of the NFL team that plays there.
Compare that with Visit Pittsburgh’s landing page: “In Pittsburgh, We Bleed Black and Gold.” That’s what marketing looks like.
Change is in the air, thanks to a city council that puts the city’s bottom line ahead of personal political preeminence. Stadium profits have grown, lawsuits have been settled and relations with the city’s business partner are healing.
Maybe Santa Clara might even become truly “The Center of What’s Possible.”
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Milestones – Pork Barrel Hangover – Opinion
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