Deal or No Deal for Santa Clara Stadium

Officials from the 49ers are open in their enthusiasm about bringing the team to Santa Clara.

Negotiations to bring the San Francisco 49ers to Santa Clara are "close to the end," a team representative said, but don't expect a  resolution next week.
 
Lisa Lang, spokeswoman for the football team, said city and team  officials are in the final stretch of a two-year process of financial  negotiations on building a stadium next to the Great America amusement park.  However, Lang said the team has no target date beyond its previously stated  timeline.

"We would be disappointed if we don't have a project moving  forward to the City Council by June," she said.

The discussions between city and team centers on the term sheet, a document detailing the specifics of a stadium arrangement between the two  parties, including financing.

Santa Clara officials have stipulated a stadium should not impact tax rates, or draw money from the general fund. Lang said these priorities  are "front and center" in discussions.

While both parties declined to share specifics of the ongoing negotiations, Lang said the details and differences include nothing out of  the ordinary.

"This is a very large, complex project," she said. "It's very understandable that it's taking this long."

Santa Clara Deputy City Manager Carol McCarthy said the negotiating teams are meeting several times a week to discuss the term sheet.

She said it would be inaccurate to say an agreement could surface shortly.

When the parties do reach an agreement on financing, the City Council will discuss it in a public meeting, she said, and vote on whether  the project should move forward.

Council members in a unanimous vote have already committed to a 2010 ballot measure on the stadium, she said, that will move forward only  when the city council approves a term sheet.

In 2007, the city approved a feasibility study that launched the ongoing talks of how to fund a new stadium for the popular football team.  
 
 

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