Originally posted by Raul98:
I wanted to bring up a topic for discussion I'm sure some might agree or disagree with me but we are in the boring off season so i thought i would bring it up for discussing cause this is bugging me.
If Eddie D. never lost control of the team and was owner from 1977 until today are the 49ers still in San Francisco or in Santa Clara?
I truly believe Eddie never lets the Niners leave San Francisco he knew what the team means to the city and the fans he would not move the team to Silicon Valley. He was a owner who had a real passion for this team he treated the 49ers like family not business.
The Yorks run it like a business and i truly believe the Santa Clara move was cause they were in a rush to place a bid for SuperBowl 50 they needed a location and stadium design to present to the NFL. Everything about this move felt rushed.
So my question is if the Yorks never took over the team would Eddie allow a move of his team somewhere else? i answer no he does not he invested so much in this city he would never allow it to move.
It is not a question of Eddie D. never allowing the move. It is a question of whether he could have mustered the political will of San Francisco to build a stadium. As far back as 1998, Eddie was trying to get a new stadium built, barely got it passed and then it fell apart after he got in trouble. Given the political climate in the state generally and San Francisco specifically as it relates to building a new football stadium and how close the election in 1998 was (amid allegations of voter fraud by the pro-stadium side), even assuming Eddie had a strong preference to stay in San Francisco, it is doubtful he would have been able to pull it off.
The York's efforts to get a stadium built were not rushed. They basically started trying soon after they took over the team but were unable to get anywhere in San Francisco with all of the divided political interests. As near as I can recall, they only started talking with Santa Clara after long on-going talks with San Francisco went nowhere. Moreover, there was never any guarantee they were going to get SB 50.
Ask yourself this question...how many NFL quality football stadiums have been built in California over the last 30+ years? Other than the stadium in Santa Clara, zero. The 49ers tried to get a stadium in SF. The Raiders have tried to get a new stadium in both Oakland and LA. The Chargers have been trying to get a new stadium in San Diego for at least a decade. That should tell you something. The stadium and where it is located is not about what Eddie would have done. It is about the amazing work Jed York and his team did in working with Santa Clara to get a stadium built in an economic and political climate that has otherwise made it impossible to build a NFL stadium for over 30+ years.