Levi's Stadium is an outdoor stadium near the West Coast of the United States, located in Santa Clara, California, just west of San Jose in the San Francisco Bay Area. It has served as the home venue for the San Francisco 49ers of the National Football League (NFL) since 2014. Located approximately south of San Francisco, it is named after Levi Strauss & Co., which purchased naming rights in 2013.
In 2006, the 49ers proposed constructing a new stadium at Candlestick Point in San Francisco, the site of Candlestick Park, their home since 1971. The project, which included plans for retail space and housing improvements, was claimed to be of great potential benefit to the nearby historically blighted neighborhood of Hunters Point. After negotiations with the city of San Francisco fell through, the 49ers focused their attention on a site adjacent to their administrative offices and training facility in Santa Clara.
In June 2010, Santa Clara voters approved a measure authorizing the creation of the tax-exempt Santa Clara Stadium Authority to build and own the new football stadium and for the city to lease land to the authority. A construction loan raised from private investors was secured in December 2011, allowing construction to start in April 2012. Levi's Stadium opened on July 17, 2014.
Levi's Stadium was the site of the Pac-12 Football Championship Game from 2014 through 2019, before moving to Allegiant Stadium in Paradise, Nevada. Previously, that game was played on the home field of the division winner possessing the better record. The stadium hosted WWE's WrestleMania 31 on March 29, 2015, Super Bowl 50 on February 7, 2016, and Super Bowl LX on February 8, 2026. The stadium also hosted the 2019 College Football Playoff National Championship, and hosted six matches during the 2026 FIFA World Cup.
Stadium design The stadium was designed by architectural firm HNTB, with a focus on creating a multi-purpose venue and with the fan experience and green technology as top priorities. Civil engineering work was performed by Winzler & Kelly, which was acquired by GHD Group in 2011. Commissioning services were provided by Glumac.
Basic stadium features
Levi's Stadium is designed as an open stadium with a natural grass field. It has a seating capacity of 68,500, expandable to approximately 75,000 to host major events like the Super Bowl, WrestleMania, and the FIFA World Cup. On June 27, 2015, The Grateful Dead's Fare Thee Well Tour made history by extending the stadium seating capacity to 83,000, although only 77,000 attended the event over two nights. To date, the record attendance for a single day event was almost 80,000 for an Ed Sheeran concert on September 16, 2023.
The seating design of the stadium places approximately two-thirds of the fans in the lower bowl, which is one of the largest of its kind in the NFL. The design features significantly improved accessibility and seating options for fans with special needs and disabilities when compared to the 49ers former home, the now-demolished Candlestick Park. The configuration is similar to Ford Field, home of the NFL's Detroit Lions, with the majority of the luxury suites on one side of the field, which puts the fans in the upper deck closer to the action.
As a multi-use facility, the stadium can be configured for special touring events including concerts, motocross events, indoor/outdoor conferences, and other community events. The stadium is also designed to meet the FIFA field geometry requirements for international soccer, which allow it to host international friendly matches and major tournaments such as the FIFA World Cup. The stadium also features over of flexible premium meeting space in the club areas.
Issues with the turf The stadium had repeated problems with the grass surface, including the grass collapsing under Baltimore Ravens kicker Justin Tucker during a week 6 game in 2015. This led to concern that the stadium wasn't of a high enough caliber to host a high stakes game such as the Super Bowl. The problems with the turf were mentioned the day after the Super Bowl by Denver Broncos cornerback Aqib Talib who said "The footing on the field was terrible. San Fran (the 49ers) has to play eight games on that field, so they better do something to get it fixed. It was terrible."
Environmental sustainability Stadium proponents claim that the stadium is currently one of the largest buildings registered with the U.S. Green Building Council. It is also believed to be the first stadium that will have both a green roof and solar panels. The 49ers are exploring collaborative opportunities with the Environmental Protection Agency to explore environmentally friendly components including:
Use of an outside commissioning agent to verify that energy‐related systems are installed, calibrated, and performing in compliance with the project requirements Use of public transit nearby including VTA, ACE, Amtrak, with connection to a proposed future BART extension Construction of a green roof (27,000± sf) and photovoltaic panels (20,000± sf) Use of paving materials and roofing materials with a high solar reflectance index Use of recycled water for landscape irrigation, toilets, and urinals along with water‐conserving fixtures No use of CFC‐based refrigerants in the HVAC systems. Systems will instead use refrigerants that minimize compounds that contribute to ozone depletion Installation of permanent monitoring systems that provide feedback on ventilation system performance Diversion, recycling, and/or salvaging 75% of non‐hazardous construction waste Use of controllable and programmable lighting control systems and thermal comfort control systems
Levi's Stadium received a Gold LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Certificate. It is the first professional football stadium in the United States to receive this certification as new construction.
Rooftop farm In July 2016, Levi's Stadium converted of the green roof to an organically maintained rooftop farm. The vision for this quarter-acre—named the Faithful Farm after the 49ers' loyal following—came from team CEO Jed York and his wife. Danielle York, a former science teacher, was particularly interested in a dedicated space that could help the building achieve some of its goals for sustainability. Lara Hermanson and Matt Sandoval of Farmscape worked with the San Francisco 49ers to create the Faithful Farm, the first rooftop farm on an NFL stadium. Herbs, tomatoes, peppers, zucchini, leafy greens and edible flowers are among the 40 rotational crops which are harvested for use in dishes served at Levi's Stadium in club spaces during games and at the more than 200 private events hosted at the stadium each year. the farm was undergoing expansion to add another .
Transportation
Public transit Station name Agency name Great America VTA Light RailSanta Clara - Great America ACE Amtrak
Stadium patrons have the option of riding VTA light rail (Valley Transportation Authority) to the stadium. The closest light rail station is Great America station, which is located just west of the stadium in the median of Tasman Drive.
To the east, other transit options include the VTA Lick Mill station (also in the Tasman median) as well as the Amtrak and ACE Santa Clara–Great America station near California's Great America. VTA also offers dedicated shuttle bus service to the stadium from the Warm Springs BART station.
Walking and bicycling
Levi's Stadium was constructed immediately east of the San Tomas Aquino Trail, a paved multi-use path installed by the City of Santa Clara in 2004 that connects to a continuous network of off-street paths including the regional San Francisco Bay Trail. The city announced in March 2013 that the San Tomas Aquino Trail would be "temporarily detoured between Agnew Road and Tasman Drive for approximately one year starting April 15 and ending when the Stadium is open," but this one-mile section of the trail remained closed to the public before and during stadium events since they began in August 2014, requiring the continued use of the two-mile on-street detour.
The stadium project's Final Environmental Impact Report (EIR) disclosed no such ongoing temporary closures of the trail, but stated instead that "While there will likely be a sizeable increase in pedestrians on the San Tomas Aquino Creek trail before and after NFL events, the creek trail is open to both pedestrians and cyclists and there are no restrictions on use. Anyone at anytime can access and use the trail."
Vehicular access The stadium's official mailing address is on Marie P DeBartolo Way (formerly Centennial Boulevard), which is actually a cul-de-sac on the east side of the stadium. The primary access route to the stadium is Tasman Drive, which runs along its northern side. Tasman is a major east–west arterial road which connects to Interstate 880 several miles to the east. Both west and east of the stadium, Tasman intersects with various north–south arterial roads which connect to several important freeways, such as California State Route 87, U.S. Route 101, California State Route 237, and Interstate 680. The closest and most important of those north–south roads is Great America Parkway to the west of the stadium, which is named after the theme park to the south.
Parking In November 2013, stadium and 49ers' officials initially requested the NFL to not schedule any Monday or Thursday night home games during Levi's Stadium's inaugural season due to parking issues in the area surrounding the stadium during weekdays. Two months later, in January 2014, the Santa Clara city government was able to secure more than the 21,000 necessary parking spots by approving use of the fairways at the city-owned Santa Clara Golf and Tennis Club (which is located to the north of the stadium across Tasman Drive). This arrangement is similar to and was modeled upon a longstanding arrangement between the Rose Bowl in Pasadena and the adjacent Brookside Golf Course, where the golf course was modified to allow for vehicular access to the fairways; they are used for parking only when dry to minimize damage, and any damage that does occur is repaired afterward.
With access to the golf course fairways, Levi's Stadium now had 31,600 potential parking spaces, meaning that tailgating and weeknight games were now a possibility. However, the NFL decided not to schedule any weeknight home games at Levi's Stadium in 2014 until traffic flow within the area is figured out, with the exception of a Thanksgiving game between the 49ers and the Seattle Seahawks on November 27, 2014. Parking prices, which averaged $30 in the 49ers' final season at Candlestick Park, will increase to $40 at Levi's Stadium.
Anticipating significant traffic from Levi's Stadium visitors, the nearby city of Mountain View instituted a three-hour parking limit on downtown streets during game days. While residents received exemptions via permit tags, stadium-goers must park in paid lots or far from Mountain View's Caltrain/VTA light rail station. This station is the closest VTA light rail station to San Francisco and receives transferring passengers heading south to San Jose via light rail (including people using the light rail to go directly to the Levi's Stadium station).