49ers Show Off New Stadium in Quest for 2016 Super Bowl

A hard-hat tour of the 49ers' new $1.2 billion Santa Clara Stadium served as the backdrop for some bullish talk about Super Bowl 2016. 

Team officials held a news conference Wednesday inside the stadium construction site with dignitaries such as Santa Clara Mayor Jamie Matthews, 49ers CEO and Los Altan Jed York and Daniel Lurie, chief of the official committee for the Super Bowl bid.

The bid to host the 50th Super Bowl at the San Francisco 49ers' new Santa Clara stadium would benefit the entire Bay Area, the mayors of three cities said.

"We have one of the largest, most important economies in the world," San Jose Mayor Chuck Reed, who was also on hand with San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee.

"Bringing the Super Bowl here will be a regional effort with regional benefits."

No one gave a clear number, however, as to how much revenue the region could expect, though other Super Bowl cities may have received between a quarter and half a billion, according to NBC Bay Area News.

The stadium, which is about 35 percent completed, is a finalist with the Miami Dolphins in South Florida, and the winner will be selected on May 21 by NFL team owners.

Lee said that to win its bid with the NFL, the Bay Area needs its governments, transportation agencies, businesses and other regional organizations to show they are working together to make the Super Bowl event a success.

"I've already turned the page on the Niners building the stadium here," said Lee, referring to the 49ers leaving Candlestick Park in San Francisco, their home since 1971, for the new Santa Clara venue in 2014. "In fact, I'm glad to actually see this is going as well as it is," Lee said.

"We made a commitment to the economy of the whole region."

Besides how the stadium could affect the region economically, no other topic was addressed—not even traffic or safety. A reporter tried to get answers to some of these questions but was told that this media event was not about those issues. Even the San Francisco Chronicle noted that the "press event Wednesday that was all about optics and messaging but short on substance."

The Chronicle did note how home games will run off the power stored from the stadium's solar panels.

ABC Bay Area news reported that the bid committee will address substantive issues in its report to the NFL owners. The report will include all of the bells and whistles—including all of the technology—that the committee hopes will sway votes their way.

The 49ers, who lost the Super Bowl XLVII in a tight contest with the Baltimore Ravens last month, will play this coming football season at Candlestick and then move to the Santa Clara stadium next year.

The stadium will have 68,500 seats, 1.85 million square feet of space, 21,000 parking spaces, two scoreboards covering 13,600 square feet, 30 escalators and 370 concession stands, according to the stadium's website.

Tickets will be as low at $85 for a single reserved upper deck seat to about $375 for a 50-yard-line club seat and season tickets start at $850 each plus $2,000 for a stadium builders license, or SBL, fee.

A key feature will be 165 luxury suites on sale with theater-style stadium seats, a lounge, flat screen televisions and Internet access for $250,000 to $350,000 each that can be resold like property or even willed to relatives, 49er spokesman Bob Lange said.

The suites are within a separate, windowed pavilion on the west side of the stadium and not intermingled with other seat decks, Lange said.

The winner of the bid will be announced on May 21.

Ken Guanga and Bay City News contributed to this reporting.