Gov. Knows Where 49ers, Raiders Can Play

Forget about the 49ers and the Raiders sharing a stadium in Oakland.

Gov. Jerry Brown has a plan for each team to have its own state-of-the-art stadium on Sundays that won't cost taxpayers an extra dime.

In an interview with the San Francisco Chronicle's Matier and Ross, Brown talks about where he thinks the Bay Area's two NFL teams should play if they don't like their current stadiums.

In fact Brown says the Raiders' current stadium deal with Oakland is partly shaping his plan to get California out of its $26 billion budget hell.

Brown tells the Chronicle that one of the reasons he wants to ditch local redevelopment agencies to save the state money is because he saw what the Raiders deal did to Oakland when he became mayor, even though the deal did not involve redevelopment dollars.

"Oakland and Alameda County are spending $25 million a year, over a 20-year period, to repay a bond on a stadium that the owners now say may not be usable," Brown told the paper. "That troubles me."

But the San Francisco 49ers plan to build a stadium in Santa Clara does rely on redevelopment dollars as well as money from a discretionary fund set up by NFL owners, which is currently in jeopardy with the league's tenuous labor agreement.

If the 49ers are not able to build a South Bay stadium, Brown has some advice on where the team could play. He also has a tip for the Raiders too.

"Use the ones over at Berkeley and Stanford - they are good stadiums," Brown said.

Both are not too far from the where the 49ers are looking and where the Raiders are. Stanford Stadium was recently redone and Berkeley is updating its stadium.

Not likely, but crazier things have happened.


 

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