Congratulations to Santa Clara Plays Fair, a group of Santa Clara residents who gathered enough signatures to force a referendum on the Santa Clara City Council’s decision to take out a $850 million loan for a new stadium for the San Francisco 49ers. The loan will suppsedly be paid back by the team, but anybody who’s been watching professional sports knows that’s far from a certainty. The SCPF group launched the signature drive after it became clear that the plan the city council voted on wasn’t the same that voters approved in 2010. Field of Schemes author Neil deMause has written that the $850 million loan agreement “piles risk on top of risk” and points out that when stadium authorities fail, it’s up to the host cities to bail them out (not the teams playing in those stadiums).

What happens now remains unclear. The city will likely go to court to challenge the legality of the referendum drive. But given the enormous cost to the small city, shouldn’t the city’s leaders be sure that the exact plan they voted on has a majority approval among residents?

Sports Fans Coalition continues to oppose the subsidization of professional sports stadiums as long as ticket prices continue to skyrocket, coverage of games from that stadium can be blacked out, the facility is not made available to the public, and the costs for running the stadium fall on local taxpayers.