The San Francisco 49ers take the next big step towards their new stadium tonight as they hold the honorary ground-breaking ceremony in Santa Clara. The team has been handling make-ready work for the last four months, but this is the first shovel in the ground for what will be the actual "construction" of the stadium.
I do know some folks remain incredibly disappointed that the 49ers are leaving the San Francisco city helmets. On the one hand, it is no big deal since a lot of teams play outside the city for which they are named. On the other hand, there is still something to be said for the "San Francisco" 49ers playing in Santa Clara. My own belief is that keeping them in the Bay Area is the one thing that matters. Of course, I have relocated to Washington, DC and do not have season tickets, so my opinion on this should be taken with a heavy grain of salt.
For those with some concerns on pricing, just a reminder that most of the pricing levels for the new stadium have not yet been released. The team released some of the most expensive options already, but will release a vast majority of the rest of the pricing options later this summer. They will not be cheap, but they will be significantly less expensive than some of the pricing levels currently listed.
Whatever your opinion on the issue of the stadium, after almost 15 years of waiting, the 49ers are on the fast track to opening their new stadium. Long gone are the days of Eddie DeBartolo's shopping mall/stadium complex. The 49ers will have what looks to be a state-of-the-art facility in the heart of Silicon Valley. They are preparing bids for Super Bowl L and LI, and would seem to be odds on favorites to get one of the two, with L being the ideal choice.
If you want to watch the ground-breaking ceremony, 49ers.com will broadcast it live. The new stadium website has a camera set up for the ground-breaking, and should provide video of the construction over the next two years. As I mentioned earlier, I'm actually thinking of taking a picture of the camera shot each day and creating a time-lapse of it in two years once the stadium is complete. We'll see how that works out.