What’s More Important, Practice or Parking?

Young soccer players, family, and friends from Santa Clara Youth Soccer League joined together at their local City Council meeting last week to put an end to the sale of their practice fields, proving once again that with a little teamwork anything is possible.

Since 2012, the Santa Clara Youth Soccer League believed they had an agreement with 49er’s CEO, Jed York, who promised to provide soccer players an alternative place to play when the 49ers had games at Levi’s Stadium. They were committed to avoiding disruption of the Soccer Park next door, which is used by some 2,000 youth soccer players for both practice and games.

But as of recently, the 49ers set their sights on that same Soccer Park, imagining its potential.

The San Francisco 49ers placed an offer to the Santa Clara City Council to purchase the 11 acres of soccer fields for $15 million, which they claimed could be used to build new soccer fields somewhere else. The fields would be converted into additional VIP parking for Levi’s Stadium. The team was also offering an additional $3 million to renovate existing fields and a fraction of the stadium parking fees.

The Santa Clara Youth Soccer League showed up to the City Council meeting in full force to voice their concern over the offer, stating that the 49ers were only offering a small fraction of the current value of the land and had made no plan to replace the existing fields, leaving them without a place to play.

Since the Council meeting where the players arrived in opposition of the deal, it has been confirmed that the 49ers have taken their proposal off of the table. The 49ers said that their offer was meant to start a conversation, not be the final proposal for the fields, but for now the Santa Clara Youth Soccer League will continue to enjoy their fields right next to Levi’s Stadium.

Demosphere is proud to be working with such a brave organization – keep up the good work Santa Clara Youth Soccer!

How do you feel about the situation in Santa Clara? Let us know in the comments section below!