Sports
49ers to Host Super Bowl at New Santa Clara Stadium in 2016
It will be the first time the football championship will be played in the Bay Area since 1985, when the 49ers defeated the Miami Dolphins at Stanford Stadium.
By Bay City News Service
The San Francisco 49ers have been selected to host the 2016 Super Bowl at their new stadium in Santa Clara.
The decision was announced late this morning after a vote by 32 National Football League team owners at a meeting in Boston today.
The owners chose the 49ers' $1.2 billion Levi's Stadium to serve as the site for Super Bowl L over a competing bid by the Miami Dolphins.
The 49ers are planning to move from Candlestick Park to the new 68,500-seat stadium in Santa Clara in 2014.
Santa Clara's mayor and City Council gathered to watch live coverage of the NFL's decision starting at 11:30 a.m. in City Council chambers at City Hall, city spokesman Dan Beerman said.
"Everyone's excited," Beerman said this morning.
San Francisco city officials were also anxiously awaiting the decision. "We're on the five-yard line and ready to go," Mayor Ed Lee said Monday.
Jed York, the 49ers' CEO, gave his team's 15-minute presentation and representatives of the Miami organization delivered theirs at the Boston meeting, Beerman said.
Now that the 49ers have been selected to host the Super Bowl, the next step is to listen to what the NFL wants Santa Clara and the team to do to prepare for the big game.
"Based on any recommendations the NFL has, we start almost the next day," Beerman said.
Copyright © 2013 by Bay City News, Inc. -- Republication, Rebroadcast or any other Reuse without the express written consent of Bay City News, Inc. is prohibited.
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