Forty Niners Stadium, LLC - a Delaware limited liability Company

Formally named - Forty Niners Stadium, LLC - the term sheet refers to it as - 49ers Stadium Company, but the DDA abbreviates it as Stadco. It is a new legal entity, referred to as an affiliate, the San Francisco 49ers NFL football team have created to sell and promote, and once successful, help build and run a new NFL football stadium in Santa Clara in conjunction with the Santa Clara Stadium Authority. The San Francisco 49ers funneled the majority of their contributions to their front group Santa Clarans for Economic Progress via the Forty Niners Stadium, LLC. In fact, although the Form 460 for the months of November and December 2009 shows the San Francisco 49ers directly donating $146,538.44 in employee services, only the Forty Niners Stadium, LLC is listed as a sponsor for Santa Clarans for Economic Progress on both the Form 460 and their websites. So, while not necessary until a Santa Clara San Francisco 49ers stadium is approved, by creating the Forty Niners Stadium, LLC early, it helped to camouflage the millions of dollars the San Francisco 49ers donated to buy the Santa Clara Measure J election.

This new San Francisco 49ers affiliate will create a firewall that will limit the San Francisco 49er's liability in the event that the stadium becomes a big money loser and the San Francisco 49ers are unable to meet their financial obligations as those obligations will be for the new affiliate entity and not the team itself. In a similar fashion, the City of Santa Clara has created the Santa Clara Stadium Authority to act as a firewall in the event of football stadium losses. In fact, the people running Forty Niners Stadium, LLC are the same ones running the San Francisco 49ers (Jed York at the top, Larry MacNeil as the finance guy), just as the people running the Santa Clara Stadium Authority are the same people running the city, it's safe to say that both organizations exist only for legal protection from creditors.

What is StadCo?

In documentation prepared before the stadium vote, the city of Santa Clara referred to Forty Niners Stadium, LLC as "49ers Stadium Company". After the stadium vote the city of Santa Clara documentation uses "StadCo" or "Stadco" as a nickname for Forty Niners Stadium, LLC.

Santa Clara 49ers Stadium leases

40 to 60 year Santa Clara San Francisco 49ers stadium leases

The stadium site (aka ground site) will be owned by the city of Santa Clara, who will lease it to the Santa Clara Stadium Authority under what is called the ground lease in the term sheet. The Santa Clara Stadium Authority will then lease the stadium to the Forty Niners Stadium, LLC, in what the term sheet calls the stadium lease. The Forty Niners Stadium, LLC will lease the stadium to the San Francisco Forty Niners, LTD in what is referred to as the team sublease. At their discretion, Forty Niners Stadium, LLC can also lease the stadium to the Oakland Raiders, the 2nd team sublease.

The Ground Lease, Stadium Lease and Team Sublease all have the same term: 40 years minimum, with 5 options to renew for another 4 years - bringing the maximum lease period to 60 years. Forty Niners Stadium, LLC has the option as to whether they want to exercise a lease extension or terminate the leases. The 2nd Team Sublease, while controlled by the Forty Niners Stadium, LLC, is supposed to be subject to the same terms as the Stadium Lease, but presumably that does not include the 40 year term. Section 16.2 of the term sheet even talks about a temporary 2nd team sublease of up to 3 NFL seasons while the Oakland Raiders wait for a new stadium to be built.