Welp, Jed York and the San Francisco 49ers have pissed off little kids in a youth soccer league. The video above was released attacking Jed York for issues related to parking near Levi's Stadium. It's called "Jed The Millionaire" and is set to the tune of the "Beverly Hillbillies" theme song.
It was a rocky year for the 49ers as they moved into Levi's Stadium, and this is only adding to the situation. Over the course of the 2014 season, the team dealt with parking issues, ingress and egress traffic issues, the lack of shade on the east side of the stadium, and crappy grass on the field of play. This led to numerous complaints, and the team has worked this offseason to improve on this, but you only get one chance to make a first impression, and Levi's Stadium has left a bad taste in the mouth of some folks.
The team worked to solve parking issues, as they could not host week day prime time games (aside from Thanksgiving) due to those issues. While they have solved some of the issues, a new one has arisen in the public eye. The 49ers might be able to win out, but they are seriously losing the PR battle.
The 49ers new stadium is built adjacent to 11 acres of property that includes youth soccer fields. The 49ers and Santa Clara's stadium authority are looking at the land as a site for VIP parking, and potential future development. The 49ers were apparently set to pay for the land, but now there are problems with the price. The 49ers were reportedly set to lease the land for $15 million over the next 39 years, with a 20-year option. The $15 million would have been paid up front, along with $3 million to the local school district to build three new soccer fields.
It sounds like the 49ers money might not be enough. Opponents of the parking plan have their own experts saying the value of the land could be worth significantly more. Some have said the value of the land could be $75 million. Others have said a more realistic high end number is $35 million. Phil Mahoney, an employee of a commercial reality firm offered up the latter number, but he also said that number is assuming optimal conditions. Mahoney said if it was limited to just parking, the value could be a third of that, meaning the 49ers deal could in fact be fair market value.
The problem with that of course is that you can find just about anybody to say what you want when it comes to an expert on a topic. It happens in court all the time. Mahoney could be spot on, but in a situation like this, there is plenty of gray. And considering there was talk of this discussion happening behind closed doors, it makes everything seem a bit nebulous.
And yet, you could make an argument that the numbers don't even matter right now. Even if the 49ers and the mayor of Santa Clara are 100 percent in the right on this, they have already taken a serious PR hit. When you have little kids protesting a city council meeting and releasing videos like the one above, you've seriously stepped in [site decorum]. Maybe the 49ers win this, but they are walking away with another PR black eye.
Here is some local news coverage of the event.