Amid stadium friction, nearly 30 laid off
Four months after a Santa Clara city election in which they spent more than $4.5 million, and amid ongoing friction over their management of Levi’s Stadium, the San Francisco 49ers have laid off nearly 30 employees.
The layoffs included Jim Mercurio, executive vice president and general manager of the stadium, sources told The Chronicle. Mercurio worked for the 49ers for nearly three decades, most recently overseeing all aspects of stadium and event operations.
The 49ers have made no public announcement of the restructuring at Forty Niners Stadium Management Company, which manages Levi’s Stadium under contract with the city. They notified city officials of a “restructuring,” while providing few details.
But four sources said they were told Mercurio was let go last week, along with several other 49ers employees. The sources requested anonymity to discuss personnel issues. One source said Craig Graber, the team’s director of security, also had left.
Team spokesperson Rahul Chandhok did not immediately respond to The Chronicle’s request for comment. Mercurio also did not immediately respond to an email and text message.
As of Thursday, the names of both Mercurio and Graber no longer appeared on the team’s online staff directory. The names of five other employees who worked for the stadium management company in administration, special events and corporate partnerships also had disappeared since the 49ers’ season ended Jan. 29. Before the layoffs, the company had 100 employees.
Similarly, the names of 22 people who worked in the 49ers’ front office have disappeared from the listing since Jan. 29. Among the employees no longer listed, nearly all in business operations, are chief strategy officer Moon Javaid, vice president of accounting and controller Esther Chi and Umesh Johari, vice president of business strategy and analytics. Before the layoffs, the front office directory listed 228 people.
These changes occurred ahead of some news about the stadium at Tuesday’s City Council meeting: For the seventh consecutive year, the 49ers said there was no revenue from concerts and other non-NFL events at the stadium to share with the city. Elton John and Coldplay were among the big-name acts to perform at Levi’s last year, with Taylor Swift and Beyonce on tap this summer.
Profits are supposed to be split evenly between team and town. The 49ers also projected no profit to share for the 2023-24 fiscal year, which begins April 1, according to Mayor Lisa Gillmor.
“So eight years of no performance rent?” Gillmor said in an interview. “I’m not happy with that. Who’s happy with that? Considering what we put out for the stadium, we’re getting nothing back.”
Gillmor has been a vocal critic of the 49ers’ management of the stadium and a frequent target of the team’s discontent. The 49ers spent more than $2.4 million to support council member Anthony Becker in his bid to unseat Gillmor in November, but she won re-election.
The team also poured more than $2 million into City Council races, helping Raj Chahal and Karen Hardy retain their seats. Chahal and Hardy are part of a five-person council majority that has consistently supported the 49ers on stadium issues.
Most notably, the City Council accepted the team’s offer in August to settle several lawsuits stemming from disputes over stadium management. The settlement came after a tumultuous council meeting in which Gillmor and Becker clashed.
At Tuesday night’s meeting, Gillmor quizzed 49ers executive Alex Acton about the team’s restructuring.
“Who is the stadium manager?” Gillmor asked, using Mercurio’s informal job title.
Acton, who had phoned in to the meeting, was evasive.
“We are the stadium manager,” Acton said, meaning the 49ers. “If you are asking who is going to be the general manager, I’m not in a position to discuss any individual employment matter.”
Acton also said the restructuring wouldn’t necessarily save any money.
Mercurio was director of stadium operations when the team played at Candlestick Park. He also worked for the NFL as a consultant on Super Bowl security issues, records show. In 2021, Mercurio won a “distinguished leadership” award from an organization that promotes stadium safety and security.
But as manager of a publicly owned stadium, Mercurio was subject to laws that apply to public officials, and people who encountered him in Santa Clara said that posed a challenge.
In 2019, after an expose on a local news website, the 49ers acknowledged Mercurio owned stock in two software companies that were doing business with the 49ers at the stadium. The team denied Mercurio’s investments had violated conflict-of-interest laws, but it required him to sell his stock at no profit.
The team also paid the city $52,000, the amount of public funds previously paid to one of the companies.
Also in 2019, the city contended in a lawsuit that Mercurio and the 49ers had violated multiple state and city laws in connection with a $650,000 reflooring project at the stadium. City auditors claimed Mercurio failed to get city approval of the project, failed to put it out for competitive bids and underpaid project workers, all illegal violations.
The 49ers again denied wrongdoing, but the team gave the city a refund of the public funds spent on the flooring project and picked up the entire cost of the project.