The San Francisco 49ers will make a bid next month to host the 50th Super Bowl in 2016, and announced today that they are bringing in a couple of stars from the franchise’s illustrious history to help out.
Former quarterback Steve Young and coach George Seifert are joining the San Francisco Bay Area regional bid committee to host Super Bowl L at the 49ers’ new stadium in Santa Clara, which opens next year.
The announcement was made at San Francisco City Hall this morning by team and city officials.
“We’re humbled and honored to add some firepower to the committee in the form of world champions,” said Daniel Lurie, a philanthropist tapped to head the committee.
Young threw a Super Bowl-record six touchdowns when the 49ers won the title in 1995 with Seifert as head coach. Seifert also won a Super Bowl in 1990 in his first season as the team’s head coach.
Young said, “Super Bowls have a way of defining careers and defining cities.”
He said San Francisco is already associated with Super Bowls, given the fact that the 49ers have won five times in the big game.
The bid committee will send its final bid package to the NFL on May 7 and will travel to Boston to make a presentation to the league’s owners on May 21, according to Lurie.
Elsewhere
Steve Young, George Seifert join Super Bowl bid committee [Chron]
Young and Seifert join effort to bring a Super Bowl to the Bay Area [ABC7]
Team CEO Jed York said, “We want to show everybody else in the world that this is the greatest place to host the greatest game.”
San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee said he is confident the Bay Area will win the bid.
“We have the hotel rooms, we have the hospitality, we have the transportation network, we have the businesses, the community support, the philanthropic support to do this right and do this well,” Lee said.
While the game would be held in Santa Clara, San Francisco would host a majority of the events in the two weeks leading up to it.
The NFL in October announced that San Francisco and South Florida are the two finalists for the 2016 bid.
If the city doesn’t win the bid for the 50th Super Bowl, it will compete with Houston to host the 51st Super Bowl the following year.
Dan McMenamin, Bay City News
