Levi’s officials say curfew costs show
Stadium management contends city’s opposition to waivers costing millions
SANTA CLARA >> Pop star Ed Sheeran pulled out of a possible tour stop at Levi’s Stadium next summer over the stadium’s 10 p.m. weeknight curfew, according to officials for the San Francisco 49ers, who manage the venue.
The 49ers, who have been battling City Hall over a curfew they contend is too restrictive, said losing Sheeran — who announced the first batch of 2018 U.S. tour dates Friday on Instagram — means Santa Clara may miss out on $800,000 in revenue that helps pay for police, firefighters and other city services.
“His show will no longer come to Levi’s Stadium because the mayor played politics and refused to correct, or even address, the music ban,” said 49ers President Al Guido. “Residents have lost out on millions of dollars in revenue,
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and music lovers have been denied an opportunity to view a world-class concert.”
Representatives of Sheeran’s concert promoter, AEG, had no comment. Not only was Levi’s Stadium left out, but the British singer didn’t list any Bay Area stops.
But Guido said the city’s 10 p.m. curfew was the dealbreaker in talks with the promoter over a Levi’s tour stop for Sheeran that had been going on for months.
In a prepared statement, Mayor Lisa Gillmor said “the potential concert loss is news to us.”
“We would appreciate the Forty-Niners Stadium Management Company bringing the data and the financial details before the Stadium Authority, particularly since we met just three days ago,” Gillmor said, adding that the stadium’s management will be discussed at a council meeting Tuesday.
The 10 p.m. curfew for concerts held at Levi’s Stadium on weeknights has been an issue for months. Led by Gillmor, the City Council last month denied a one-hour extension for Coldplay in October and rejected a request from the NFL team to allow four extensions a year in exchange for community benefits.
Santa Clara’s curfew is earlier than those at other large outdoor concert venues. Guido and a top concert promoter warned city officials that the curfew would result in a loss of concert business — threatening the venue’s viability, its naming agreement with Levi’s and costing the city revenue.
“The community is paying a severe price for Mayor Gillmor’s music ban,” Guido said.
But Councilwoman Kathy Watanabe said the city can’t break its promise to Levi’s Stadium neighbors to control the noise on weeknights. That was among issues raised before voters approved the stadium in 2010. The $1.3 billion venue opened in 2014.
The curfew is the latest bone of contention between Gillmor and her allies on the council and the 49ers since Levi’s opened.
Gillmor also fought the Niners over how much the team pays in rent and a request to use nearby soccer fields for parking on game days and for a media center during Super Bowl 50. The soccer mom was convinced the city spent taxpayer dollars on the stadium and ordered a $180,000 audit of stadium finances.
Its main finding: The Niners owed $114,781 to Santa Clara for public safety costs, though interim City Manager Rajeev Batra said his records showed the unpaid costs were more like $20,000 to $25,000.
After refusing an extension for Coldplay, the council last month said the city should seek comment from stadium neighbors about allowing four curfew extensions a year. In a push to have a public dialogue before the Coldplay concert on Oct. 4, Batra scheduled two public meetings in September, but both were unexpectedly cancelled.
Guido said he believes Gillmor is delaying the meetings so that Coldplay blows the curfew next month, allowing her to claim the Niners violated the city law. Batra confirmed cancelling a Sept. 6 public meeting after Gillmor called him with “questions.”
“I was asked by the mayor about the scope of the meetings, who will conduct them and how come the board members weren’t invited,” Batra said Friday.