It appears the San Francisco 49ers and the Santa Clara mayor are tangling. The city is considering to take legal action against the team over the details surrounding the 2026 World Cup.
Levi’s Stadium is among the venues set to host games for the event. But Santa Clara Mayor Lisa Gillmor said the team isn’t giving them the documents and heads up the city needs to plan for the mega-event.
It’s still three years away, but the mayor said it takes a lot of time to prepare for logistics with security and other public services.
Super Bowl 50, for example, took three years to plan. And a World Cup is likely to be even bigger.
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"The time by Super Bowl 50, we had full documents, everything was negotiated, we knew what our responsibilities were,” Gillmor said.
Gillmor added that Santa Clara, a city with about 130,000 people has the smallest city government among the World Cup host sites.
“We could have up to five to seven games here in Santa Clara. Each one like a Super Bowl. So it’s really important we get those documents,” she said.
It’s the latest chapter in a long back-and-forth battle between the mayor and the team. The World Cup Bay Area host committee is the one in charge leading up to the mega-event, working with the 49ers.
The Bay Area Host Committee released the following statement:
“We are committed to transparency and have already provided city staff with materials regarding the bid. We look forward to continuing to work with city staff on the remaining documents to ensure that proprietary information is protected.”
The 49ers are also reportedly in the running to host the Super Bowl in 2026, months before the World Cup.
The police chief submitted a letter saying his department needs time to prepare because it would strain their resources and require assistance from other agencies, adding the lack of communication is unacceptable.
The mayor proposed legal action to subpoena the FIFA documents, but the council voted against it this week.
Instead, deciding to wait until the new city manager takes over, so they can discuss it with the host committee next month and try to resolve the issue.
If it can’t, the mayor, who is in the minority on the city council, wants to pursue legal action.
