For the second time in a decade, the city hosting the Super Bowl — Santa Clara, California — was entirely ignored during the official Super Bowl 60 news conference.
At the kickoff event on Feb. 10, there was no speech from Santa Clara Mayor Lisa Gillmor. Instead, San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan took center stage, branding San Jose as the “Capital of Silicon Valley.”
The reason for this snub? Likely the ongoing feud between 49ers management and Gillmor. But even if they were the best of friends, where exactly would Super Bowl fans gather in Santa Clara? The Target parking lot? The lobbies of Nvidia or Intel? The swim center? Perhaps the gravesite of the city’s original downtown — now an expanse of parking lots, a scattering of unrelated buildings and an abandoned courthouse.
60 years ago, the Santa Clara City Council voted to demolish its own downtown — eliminating any true gathering space for visitors and residents. In recent years, frustration has grown as citizens realize their city is missing out, not only on economic opportunities but on civic pride. Santa Clara remains one of the few cities in the United States without a downtown, and its absence has become an embarrassment.
Meanwhile, San Jose, Sunnyvale, Mountain View, Palo Alto, Redwood City, Campbell and Los Gatos all boast thriving, walkable downtowns that will benefit from the influx of Super Bowl visitors and spending. In 2016, Super Bowl 50 generated an estimated $240 million for the region. Only 7% of this money went to Santa Clara. Super Bowl 60 and the World Cup’s economic impact is expected to be $1.7 billion. Yet again, little of that revenue will be spent in the host city — the city whose residents approved Levi’s Stadium.
Residents formed a group in 2016 called Reclaiming Our Downtown, to restore Santa Clara’s historic downtown. Since then, tremendous momentum has pushed the city to finally act. A downtown citizens task force was created, and an urban planner was hired to draft the Downtown Santa Clara Precise Plan. In December 2023, the city council approved the plan, which is now shovel ready.
Yet progress has stalled. A small contingent in City Hall continues to push for another project — City Place — to take priority. The problem? The original City Place plan relied heavily on office space, a model that collapsed in the post-pandemic economy, and had to be redesigned. Meanwhile, the downtown plan is ready to go.
Santa Clara owns the first two blocks slated for downtown redevelopment. The city can leverage that land to create a nationally recognized, pedestrian-friendly beautiful destination point — one that could host Super Bowl fans, FIFA visitors and future generations of Santa Clarans. This type of vibrant downtown would inspire economic growth, badly needed tax revenues, attract investment and restore the heart of the city.
For nearly 10 years, a dedicated group of 5,000 residents has worked tirelessly to bring downtown back. It’s time for the city to act. If city leaders need a financial incentive, they should ask any economist how much Santa Clara is losing in tourism dollars during Super Bowl 60 and next year’s FIFA World Cup events. But more importantly, ask any Santa Clara resident. They deserve the tax and economic benefits from events held at Levi’s Stadium and, more importantly, they deserve to have their city’s heart restored.
The moment to rebuild downtown Santa Clara is now.
Dan Ondrasek and Mary Grizzle are co-chairs of Reclaiming our Downtown.
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