Aerial view of Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara with its red seating bowl and white steel suite tower, a dark helicopter flying in the foreground.

After the Mega-Events, the Maintenance Bill: Silicon Valley’s Two Big Public Venues Hit Middle Age

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Top image: A U.S. Customs and Border Protection helicopter passes Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara in February 2016, before Super Bowl 50. Photo: Glenn Fawcett / U.S. Customs and Border Protection (public domain) via Wikimedia Commons

Monday night, Levi’s Stadium hosts the undefeated 49ers and the Washington Commanders on “Monday Night Football,” with former linebacker Keena Turner inducted into the team’s Hall of Fame at halftime, according to the stadium. The 49ers are 5-0, NFL.com’s schedule shows. Away from the field, the question in Santa Clara and San Jose this fall is who pays to keep the region’s two largest publicly owned sports venues in repair.

The mega-event dividend

On Oct. 1 the Bay Area Host Committee reported that the six FIFA World Cup 2026 matches played at Levi’s Stadium generated about $850 million in total economic activity in the region. Santa Clara County captured about $410 million of that. The committee said the matches drew an estimated 240,000 visitors from outside the Bay Area and produced about $30 million in revenue for local governments, beating its own pre-tournament projection of $480 million to $630 million.

In June, the committee put Super Bowl LX at about $720 million in regional activity, with about $195 million of it in Santa Clara County and about $20 million in revenue for local governments. Taken together, the two reports credit Santa Clara County with roughly $605 million in activity from the year’s two marquee events. Both analyses were prepared for the committee by Boston Consulting Group using IMPLAN input-output modeling. They measure economic activity, not money returned to the stadium’s public owner.

The maintenance gap at Levi’s

The Santa Clara Stadium Authority owns Levi’s Stadium, and the 49ers’ management company runs it. At a Sept. 14 council meeting, The Silicon Valley Voice reported, the city’s finance director called the year “strong.” He said $10.5 million had flowed to the city’s general fund, the authority had paid down $9.9 million in stadium debt, $209.72 million remained outstanding, and $9.6 million had gone into the renovation and demolition reserve. That report excluded costs for the World Cup matches and Super Bowl LX.

Council Member Kelly Cox said only about half of the capital work budgeted over the past decade had been done. “Anybody paying attention knows we have hit a financial cliff,” she said. Mayor Lisa Gillmor said there are “no more excuses.” Council Member Kevin Park called for an outside party to oversee the 49ers’ management company. City staff said a conditions needs assessment is underway, and City Manager Jovan Grogan pointed to the “ebb and flow” of non-NFL events as a central challenge.

The fight has been building. In June the council approved only a one-year capital plan, on a 5-2 vote, the Voice reported. Council Member Suds Jain said the authority sets aside only $3 million to $4 million a year for capital work. “Somehow, in the original agreements, we just got it wrong,” he said. Kevin Wang, a 49ers lawyer, said a five-year plan is part of the lease and told the council, “it is very clear that we have no trust.”

The argument has reached the Nov. 3 ballot. Mayoral candidate Kathy Watanabe has called for an independent audit of what the 49ers and the stadium pay the city, and the team says stadium revenue has sent more than $30 million to Santa Clara’s general fund over the past two years, NBC Bay Area reported. The team’s spending in the race is covered in our earlier report.

San Jose’s $425 million bridge

San Jose has already made its bet. In August 2025 the City Council unanimously approved a deal that keeps the Sharks at the city-owned SAP Center through June 30, 2051. The city committed $325 million toward a $425 million renovation of the arena, which opened in 1993. A separate memorandum of understanding commits the city and the team to negotiate through March 31, 2027, with a goal of identifying a future arena site and signing an arena-district agreement by Sept. 1, 2027, according to city records.

The first phase is visible now. The Sharks said Oct. 1 that a new South Bar, an arena-wide Wi-Fi upgrade and new elevators debuted for opening night. A team store about three times the size of the current one is targeted for late November. The Silicon Valley Business Journal reported that the arena will shut down next summer for major structural work.

The long view

In both cities the public owns the building and a team runs it. The mega-event year showed what these venues can do for the regional economy. The Santa Clara council fights show what impact estimates leave out: boilers, LED systems, elevators and plumbing wear out on a schedule, while concerts and championships come and go.

Santa Clara is learning that a stadium opened in 2014 needs steady capital funding in its second decade. San Jose has chosen to pay for a renovation now while it plans the arena that will eventually replace this one. Both cities face decisions in the coming year that will last a generation: Santa Clara’s next council will set the terms of stadium oversight, and San Jose has given itself until Sept. 1, 2027, to name a future arena site. For voters, the useful number is not the impact estimate. It is how much the public has committed to spend, and on what.

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