Levi's Stadium

• 1. Introduction

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  Levi's Stadium first drew a crowd not for football but for soccer. On the 2nd of August 2014, Yannick Djaló scored in the 42nd minute for San Jose Earthquakes against Seattle Sounders FC. The crowd of 48,765 saw a 1-0 final, a result that gave the new venue its first competitive goal.

  The stadium sits in Santa Clara, California, roughly 40 miles south of San Francisco. It has served as the home of the San Francisco 49ers since 2014. The stadium carries the name of Levi Strauss & Co., which paid $220.3 million over twenty years for the right. Its seating capacity for football reaches 68,500, expandable to approximately 75,000 for major events.

  Getting here took decades. The 49ers pursued a new stadium in San Francisco for years before the project moved to Santa Clara. City councils, senators, gubernatorial ambitions, and NFL legends all played roles before the first shovel broke ground. How San Francisco lost its stadium, and what Santa Clara built instead, is a story that begins in the final years of the twentieth century.

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• 2. Decades of Detours

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  In 1997, San Francisco voters approved $100 million in city spending for a new stadium and shopping mall at Candlestick Point. The money was in place. The political support appeared sufficient. But the project never moved forward.

  Eddie DeBartolo Jr. faced legal troubles that forced him to surrender the franchise. Control passed to his sister Denise DeBartolo York and her husband John York. The Mills Corporation, chosen to develop the project, could not assemble a workable plan. The NFL had already awarded the proposed stadium the right to host Super Bowl XXXVII. When the project collapsed, that game went to San Diego's Qualcomm Stadium instead.

  The 49ers tried again in 2006. Mayor Gavin Newsom was working to bring the 2016 Summer Olympics to San Francisco. A new stadium would strengthen the city's bid to the United States Olympic Committee. The proposed site was Candlestick Point, with a projected cost of $916 million. The developer Lennar would build housing, retail, and office space around the stadium. The plan called for 150 luxury suites, 7,500 premium club seats, and a 68,600-seat configuration for the 49ers after the Olympics.

  The 49ers and city could not agree on viable locations at the site. Traffic, parking, and construction logistics at Candlestick Point posed problems neither party could resolve. On the 9th of November 2006, owners Denise DeBartolo York and John York announced the franchise was shifting its stadium search to Santa Clara.

  The backlash was immediate. The canceled stadium forced San Francisco's Olympic bid group to withdraw its proposal. Mayor Newsom was angry, and so were 49ers legends Joe Montana and Ronnie Lott, who had both worked on the Olympic effort. Senator Dianne Feinstein had served as San Francisco's mayor from 1978 to 1988. She argued the team should forfeit the right to use the San Francisco name if it built elsewhere. On the 3rd of January 2007, California State Senator Carole Migden introduced SB49. The bill would have barred the 49ers from building within 100 miles of San Francisco if they departed the city. The 49ers threatened to relocate out of the Bay Area altogether if the bill passed. It died without a vote.

  Santa Clara had been in discussions about a stadium since 2007. Formal negotiations with the franchise began in 2008, a quiet parallel to the public battles still playing out up the peninsula.

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• 3. The Vote and the Build

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  On the 8th of June 2010, Santa Clara voters approved Measure J by 58 percent. The measure authorized the city to lease land for a new NFL stadium. No new taxes would be levied on residents, and the 49ers were required to bear all construction and operation cost overruns. The city would own the land and collect rent.

  The road to that vote had not been smooth. In December 2009, Cedar Fair Entertainment Company, owner of the nearby California's Great America theme park, filed a lawsuit to stop the project. The lawsuit was dismissed. Earlier, on the 2nd of June 2009, the Santa Clara City Council voted 5-2 to accept preliminary terms. Mayor Patricia Mahan led the effort. Council members William Kennedy and Jamie McLeod opposed the stadium and worked to defeat Measure J.

  Financing followed. In December 2011, the city's Stadium Authority voted to borrow $850 million from Goldman Sachs, Bank of America, and U.S. Bank. On the 2nd of February 2012, NFL owners approved a separate $200 million loan to the 49ers from the league's G-4 stadium fund.

  Groundbreaking took place on the 19th of April 2012. The first steel beams were laid on the 30th of July 2012. Workers installed the first seats on the 1st of October 2013.

  Construction was halted on the 11th of June 2013 when a mechanic working on an elevator was struck by a counterweight. He fell down the shaft and died. California Occupational Safety and Health Administration officials declared the site safe two days later, and work resumed. The accident remained under investigation as of October 2013.

  The stadium had been scheduled to open on the 11th of July. Construction delays pushed the opening back by six days. What no architectural rendering had fully accounted for was the Santa Clara heat, a problem that would surface within weeks of the first game.

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• 4. Green by Design

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  In July 2016, 6,500 square feet of the stadium's green roof became an organically maintained farm. The Faithful Farm, named after the 49ers' loyal following, was the first rooftop farm on any NFL stadium. The idea came from team CEO Jed York and his wife Danielle, a former science teacher. Lara Hermanson and Matt Sandoval of the company Farmscape created it.

  The farm grows 40 rotational crops, including herbs, tomatoes, peppers, zucchini, leafy greens, and edible flowers. The harvest feeds dishes in the club spaces during 49ers games. More than 200 private events are hosted at the stadium each year, and the farm supplies those too. Plans were underway to expand the farm by an additional 6,500 square feet.

  The green roof of which the farm is a part covers 27,000 square feet. Solar panels cover 20,000 square feet. Levi's Stadium is described as one of the first facilities to feature both a green roof and solar panels. Architectural firm HNTB designed the building, with civil engineering handled by Winzler & Kelly, a firm acquired by GHD Group in 2011.

  The Green Building Council awarded the stadium a Gold LEED certification. It was the first such designation granted to a new professional football stadium in the United States. The certification covers recycled water for irrigation and restrooms and refrigerants that avoid ozone-depleting compounds. It also requires programmable lighting controls and a target of diverting 75 percent of non-hazardous construction waste.

  The closest light rail station to the stadium, Great America station, sits in the median of Tasman Drive just west of the building. That connection completed the transit component of the sustainability program.

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• 5. Complaints and Controversies

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  Grass at Levi's Stadium gave way under Baltimore Ravens kicker Justin Tucker in a week 6 game in 2015. The turf failure raised concern about whether the stadium could handle high-stakes events. That concern persisted into Super Bowl 50, which followed in February 2016. Denver Broncos cornerback Aqib Talib addressed the matter after the game: "The footing on the field was terrible. San Fran has to play eight games on that field, so they better do something to get it fixed. It was terrible."

  During a preseason game on the 17th of August 2014, a fan collapsed and was rushed to a local hospital, where he died. Subsequent preseason and early-season afternoon games saw more fans suffer heat exhaustion. On hot days, the eastern stands were often largely empty.

  The stadium's design had been created for the Candlestick Point site in San Francisco, which has a cooler climate. When the project moved to Santa Clara, the team kept the existing design to avoid further delays. The result was a venue where roughly two-thirds of the fans sit on the east side. That side was fully exposed to afternoon sun, with no overhead covering. FAA regulations prevent any additions to the structure's height due to its proximity to San Jose International Airport. Any new overhangs would need to function as full structural additions.

  Pilots approaching San Jose International Airport on one runway filed complaints about the stadium's light towers and scoreboards. Bay Area NBC affiliate KNTV reported in 2016 that at least 43 such complaints had been logged since the stadium opened.

  The added cost of a Stadium Builders License priced out long-tenured 49ers supporters who had helped create the atmosphere at Candlestick Park. Ticket prices during the inaugural season were the highest in the NFL. Parking at Levi's Stadium averaged $40, compared to $30 in the 49ers' final season at Candlestick. A rule barring season ticket holders from printing tickets until 72 hours before kickoff made re-sale difficult. Multiple bars and lounges inside the building kept fans from their seats during play.

  ESPN anchor Chris Berman coined the name "The Big Bellbottom" on the 14th of September 2015, in reference to Levi Strauss's denim heritage. Journalist Drew Magary had proposed "the Jeanhole" weeks earlier, in an article published on the 18th of August 2015. The complaints extended to neighboring Mountain View, which instituted a three-hour parking limit on downtown streets during game days. Residents received permit tag exemptions, but stadium-goers were directed to paid lots or the Caltrain station.

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• 6. The Raiders That Never Came

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  Two home-team locker rooms were built into Levi's Stadium from the outset. The exterior LED lighting was engineered to be reprogrammed for alternate colors. From the beginning, the stadium was designed to accommodate a second NFL tenant. The most likely candidate was the Oakland Raiders.

  NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell was openly in favor of the two Bay Area franchises sharing a facility. Fans of both teams were opposed. The 49ers and Raiders had a narrow historical precedent: they shared Kezar Stadium for part of the 1960 season. Late Raiders owner Al Davis had wanted a new stadium since the late 1980s. When a sharing arrangement in Los Angeles was proposed to him, he opposed it. That opposition contributed to his move back to Oakland in 1995.

  By October 2011, the 49ers had reportedly sold more than a quarter of the luxury suites. That made any Raiders tenancy a secondary arrangement. In October 2012, Raiders owner Mark Davis told reporters he had no plans to share the Santa Clara venue.

  The situation shifted several times. On the 20th of February 2015, the Raiders announced they were exploring a joint stadium in Carson, California, with the San Diego Chargers. That proposal came to nothing. In January 2016, the Raiders failed in a bid to relocate to Los Angeles, and joint tenancy at Levi's resurfaced in general discussion. In March 2017, the NFL approved the Raiders' relocation to Las Vegas for the 2020 season. Allegiant Stadium in Paradise, Nevada would be their new home.

  When the Raiders moved to Las Vegas in March 2017, Levi's Stadium's identity as a single-team venue was settled. What followed was a calendar of events that reached well beyond American football.

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• 7. Marquee Events

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  On the 29th of March 2015, WrestleMania 31 filled Levi's Stadium with 76,976 fans, generating $12.6 million in gate receipts. The event was the first WrestleMania staged in Northern California and the sixth in the state overall.

  Super Bowl 50 arrived on the 7th of February 2016. The Denver Broncos defeated the Carolina Panthers 24-10. Lady Gaga performed the national anthem. Coldplay headlined the halftime show alongside Beyoncé and Bruno Mars. On the 8th of February 2026, the stadium hosted Super Bowl LX. The Seattle Seahawks defeated the New England Patriots 29-13. Charlie Puth performed the national anthem. Bad Bunny headlined the halftime show with Lady Gaga and Ricky Martin.

  Concerts pushed the stadium's attendance figures beyond anything football had required. The Grateful Dead's Fare Thee Well shows on the 27th and the 28th of June 2015 extended seating to 83,000. Only 77,000 attended across the two nights, but the gross reached $21.5 million. On the 16th of September 2023, Ed Sheeran drew close to 80,000 fans to a single show, setting the record for single-day attendance.

  Soccer became a consistent secondary use. In June 2016, Levi's Stadium hosted four matches at the Copa América Centenario. Those games included the opening match between the United States and Colombia and a quarterfinal won by Chile over Mexico. On the 26th of July 2017, the United States men's team defeated Jamaica 2-1 at the stadium. The victory was their sixth CONCACAF Gold Cup title.

  College football had a substantial presence as well. The stadium hosted the Pac-12 Championship Game each year from 2014 through 2019. On the 7th of January 2019, Clemson defeated Alabama 44-16 there to win the College Football Playoff National Championship.

  The 2026 FIFA World Cup will extend the stadium's international reach. Levi's Stadium is scheduled to host six matches, five at the group stage and one in the Round of 32. FIFA's rules on corporate-sponsored names require the venue to operate as "San Francisco Bay Area Stadium" for the tournament's duration. The Bay Area is also among the regions being considered for the 2031 Rugby World Cup and the 2033 Women's Rugby World Cup.

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