Levi's Stadium is above-average, according to the San Francisco 49ers.
Which is not acceptable to some of the team's fans, some of whom gave the new $1.3 billion Santa Clara stadium a "failing grade," according to the San Jose Mercury News, which noted that the much-heralded football stadium had "no shortage of flaws."
From heat so hot that a fan died in August, from a field that needed replacing multiple times, to empty seats with fans' attention diverted away from the action on the field -- leading to derision and mocking from elsewhere in the league -- the 49ers "realize it needs to get better," according to the newspaper.
Season ticket holders told the newspaper that the new "sports palace" rated about average, and "wasn't always worth the sky-high cost of admission," which were twice the asking price at old Candlestick Park.
Some of the worst criticism: the stadium is "sterile," with no atmosphere and no loud fan noise like what's heard at Century Link Field in Seattle, home of the hated Seahawks.
Team officials say that the field issues have been solved. But as for filling the plush $20,000 seats that were often empty, as the ticket-holders mingled in the "swanky, roped-off clubs"?
As one fan said, "there's a lot to look around [at]," the newspaper reported. And that appears not changing anytime soon.
