A Bay Area youth soccer league has taken on on the National Football League.
The Santa Clara Youth Soccer League filed a lawsuit in December to stop the city of Santa Clara from using its fields during Super Bowl 50. Monday that lawsuit was expanded to include the NFL.
And on Tuesday, the two sides met for about 15 minutes behind closed doors during an emergency meeting with a judge, who ruled that the NFL be allowed to continue work. Another hearing is set for Monday.
The youth soccer league had sought a restraining order against the NFL using the fields during the Super Bowl.
The NFL started work Monday on the soccer fields right next to Levi's Stadium, home of the San Francisco 49ers. The area will be used as a media camp during the Super Bowl in February. Workers have already removed the sprinkler heads from the field and are in the process of placing white plastic flooring tiles on top of the grass.
The Santa Clara Youth Soccer League is concerned the NFL will “destroy" the fields. They argue this violates a prior argreement that calls for only light use of the fields. The youth league questions whether the NFL will actually be able to restore the fields to world class standards as promised, even though the NFL has promised to make repairs after the Super Bowl. It had no comment about the lawsuit.
The fields are currently used by the Santa Clara Youth League, but the city said it agreed in a contract to let the NFL use the fields for its Super Bowl media compound starting Monday.
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Meanwhile, the first round of the soccer state cup is this weekend. But as of right now, the Santa Clara youth soccer league doesn't have a field. So they are asking their opponents to host so they won't have to forfeit.
