49ers discuss back-up stadium site with Santa Clara official

ByJason Bennert, Bay City News Service

July 18, 2006

SANTA CLARA (BCN) - The San Francisco 49ers have twice discussed with a Santa Clara city official possibly relocating the National Football League team to Santa Clara if the new San Francisco stadium plans collapse.

Santa Clara Assistant City Manager Ron Garratt said he has had two discussions with the team in the last month about building a new football stadium in the parking lot of the Great America amusement park as a contingency plan in the event a proposed new stadium at Candlestick Point cannot be built.

"We may be knocking on your door and looking at the parking lot,'' Garratt said 49ers Vice President Larry MacNeil told him.

The discussions about a Santa Clara stadium have been very preliminary, "at the 10,000-foot level,'' according to Garratt, with no mention of what the team would like the city to contribute or if the team's name would be changed to the Santa Clara 49ers upon relocation.

"They're aggressively committed to San Francisco,'' Garratt said.

A spokeswoman for the 49ers was not immediately available for comment.

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