Santa Clara City Council votes to move forward on 49ers stadium, Cedar Fair and other obstacles to follow
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Saying an NFL stadium would fulfill the vision of past city leaders despite worries about the fine print, Santa Clara's city council voted 6-1 late Tuesday to enter into negotiations with the San Francisco 49ers to finance a stadium near Great America. The city does not yet have a plan or agreement from Cedar Fair, who has a long-term lease on the land where the city wants to build the stadium.
Read more from The Mercury News.
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I love that Cedar Fair bought their way into a contract and now has the city and the 49ers by the balls.
I found this other article and found it amusing that they say Great America is owned by Six Flags.
This is why I when I hear about the federal government bailing out banks that sold bad loans and people that couldn't afford the homes they were buying, freezing interest rates, etc, I get scared crapless. Why? Because they are taking contracts and throwing them out the window. Government has a way of doing that sort of thing when it helps them get what they want. Hopefully Cedar Fair won't see that happen here. It's a totally different situation and they should be the ones holding all the cards, but we shall see. The stupid city could probably make their existence there pretty miserable in the form of targeted raised taxes, etc.
A contract is a contract. Municipalities don't like getting into legal battles because they can't afford it. For all of Cedar Fair's faults, they do have a strong record of standing up to government (parking tax in Sandusky, subsidized bus route in Cincy, etc.).
What's going to be difficult, is getting the voters of Santa Clara to pass this. You're looking at $200 million in taxpayer subsidies with no guarantees that future general fund monies will not have to used to pay off debts for this project. Frankly, I don't see how any sensible city councilmember could even vote to support this.
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