The story I first reported last October is rearing its ugly head again. The San Francisco 49ers have been planning a new professional football stadium for year. The proposed South Bay stadium would be built across the street from the 49ers training facilities and offices in a parking lot in Santa Clara, CA. Sounds like a perfect location right? Well that lot is currently being used as overflow parking for Cedar Fair-owned California's Great America. Cedar Fair claims that the NFL games would be bad for business and has stated that they want a cut of the stadium parking revenue.
What Would the 49ers Do with Great America?
If the 49ers fork over the dough and buy the park, what would they do with it? They could sell it to a park operator that's looking to acquire properties like PARC Management? Six Flags has been slimming down and Busch Entertainment is in limbo with the whole InBev acquisition. Recently, PARC management purchased Magic Springs in Arkansas as well as five NASCAR Speed Parks and Myrtle Waves Water Park. Last week I saw that their management of the former Six Flags property, Darien Lake was solid. I was glad to see the gum tree in the Predator's queue was removed. Maybe a company like PARC will take Great America off of the 49ers hands.
Or maybe the team will just buy the park and close it down. On message boards, some are drawing comparisons to the defunct Six Flags AstroWorld and the new Houston Texans football stadium. According to Wikipedia, a former Six Flags CEO cited parking issues caused by the Texans new stadium as part of the reason for the park's closure in 2005.
Coaster Critic 