Santa Clara has to back youth sports

Editorial

What a shame that the Santa Clara Youth Soccer League’s tournament- class complex next to the 49ers’ new Levi’s Stadium has become a political football.

The 49ers will bring a proposal to the Santa Clara City Council on Tuesday night for a longterm deal that would give the team control of the soccer site in exchange for $ 15 million to help the city build a youth sports complex someplace else. The team wants to use the site primarily for parking on game days, including parking on the actual fields.

When the NFL stadium went to a public vote, the message from the team and the city council was that it would enhance, not degrade, the community. We bought it. So did voters. Now that the team says it can’t live with the soccer park operating next door, that message needs to guide negotiations.

49ers’ CEO Jed York should live up to his 2102 commitment “to underwrite several regulationsized additional soccer fields in Santa Clara” as part of the stadium project. If the stadium and the 11- acre, three field soccer park can’t coexist, the team should pay to replace the facility. In the three years since York’s letter, the 49ers franchise grew in value by $ 500 million, largely because of the stadium. The team can afford to support youth sports.

Making soccer whole should not come at the expense of other youth sports. As to alternative sites, the unique 40- acre Ulistac Natural Area should be off limits.

The 49ers and the soccer league have had a major failure to communicate. In an oped on this page Friday, League officers accused the team of “placing the needs of the NFL team high above those of the youth of Santa Clara.”

The 49ers apparently think the latest $ 15 million offer for control of the complex, in addition to $ 3 million committed earlier to construct or upgrade school district fields, would pretty much solve the problem. That’s unlikely.

At Tuesday’s meeting, Santa Clara Mayor Jamie Matthew needs to clarify the 49ers’ commitment. He terms the latest proposal “the start of a negotiation.”

In the short term, Matthews wants the city to accept the 49ers offer of $ 3 million to upgrade Santa Clara School District fields the league can use when major events are held at the stadium.

But he said Monday he is committed in the long- term to building a youth sports complex in Santa Clara that “not only accommodates soccer but also other youth sports. It has to be both newer and better than what we already have in place.”

And it can’t be, he vows, on Ulistac. He suggests using a portion of the city’s 50- acre corporation yard or part of the 230- acre Related Development site across the street from the stadium.

Now that’s the spirit we and Santa Clara voters — including many youth soccer leaders — bought into when Levi’s Stadium was approved.

The city council should ratify that goal Tuesday and, rather than taking a $ 15 million check, keep open the amount the billion dollar NFL team should contribute.