With the 49ers dreams of playing in a new Santa Clara stadium in 2014 on hold, where will the team play for a year?
Well it might not be San Francisco if team president Jed York's relationship with Mayor Gavin Newsom doesn't thaw anytime soon.
The San Francisco Chronicle's venerable reporters Matier and Ross say the young York hasn't spoken with the lieutenant governor hopeful in two years.
At least York tells the duo he is happy to sit down with Newsom. But he even tops that off with a shot: "I think he's focused on other opportunities outside the city at this point."
At issue from York's perspective is much needed improvements for the City run Candlestick Park, which many consider to be one of the worst stadium in the NFL.
But cash-strapped San Francisco says it makes no sense to invest millions of dollars on a stadium whose sole tenant is a committed relationship with another city.
It's no secret that York and Newsom don't like each other much. Newsom was visibly upset years ago when he heard York announce through the media -- and not to him directly -- that the team would be leaving San Francisco for the South Bay.
Time has not healed old wounds on either side it seems. Newsom's Press Secretary Tony Winnicker took a moment to speak for the outgoing mayor.
"Unless the team ownership is prepared to make a longer term commitment to the City, the idea that the taxpayers of San Francisco are going to foot the bill for millions of dollars of new luxury boxes and TV flat screens is straight out of the fantasy football league," he told the Chronicle.
For all we know, the 49ers South Bay stadium could be a fantasy as well. The team's lease on Candlestick Park ends in 2012.
