Organizers of a bid to have the San Francisco 49ers host Super Bowl L in 2016 announced today that they have already raised more than $30 million for the event and will contribute a quarter of that total to local charities.
Members of the Bay Area Super Bowl Bid Committee made the announcement in San Francisco today as they prepare to make a presentation to the 32 NFL owners at a meeting in Boston on May 21.
The committee last week submitted their bid to the owners to have the Super Bowl at the 49ers’ new $1.2 billion stadium in Santa Clara in 2016.
Daniel Lurie, the committee’s chairman, said the fundraising total “is probably two times what we anticipated raising going into May 21” and includes pledges from companies such as Apple, Hewlett Packard, Intel, Yahoo! and Google.
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San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee said donating a quarter of that money to local charities “can reflect what I think the NFL really wants to do with these events, which is show our values.”
San Francisco would host many of the events leading up to the Super Bowl as well as the NFL Experience interactive exhibit, according to the committee.
Lurie said the costs of putting on the events adds up to about $40 million, so the committee is continuing to raise money.
The committee is competing against one from the Miami Dolphins, the other team seeking to host the NFL’s 50th Super Bowl in 2016.
Miami suffered recent setbacks in its bid, particularly when the Florida State Legislature declined its request for $350 million to renovate its aging stadium.
Lurie said even after that development, “we’re not relaxing in the least.”
If anything, he said that news “made us hit the gas pedal even harder.”
Lurie said members of the committee will leave this Sunday to head to Boston, where they will give the live presentation to the league’s owners.
Former San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown is a member of the bid committee sand said he was confident that San Francisco and the Bay Area will host the game.
“We’re going to have a ball,” Brown said. “There’s no way this package isn’t going to be approved.”
The NFL owners will make their decision on the same day as the two presentations. The city that is not selected will be invited to submit a second bid to host Super Bowl LI in 2017.
Dan McMenamin, Bay City News
