City: Santa Clara, California

Reporting to: City Manager

The Challenge

The city of Santa Clara—the “center of what’s possible”—located in the heart of Silicon Valley, boasts 138,000 residents—and the publicly-owned, world-class, 70,000-seat Levi’s Stadium. Levi’s stadium is home to the National Football League’s San Francisco 49ers and will host two major events in 2026: Superbowl LX and six international soccer matches as part of the FIFA Men’s World Cup. However, the management of the stadium is not without controversy.

Levi’s Stadium was constructed after voters approved the Santa Clara Stadium Taxpayer Protection and Economic Progress Act (2010), also known as Measure J, which forbids general fund dollars to be spent on stadium operations. All major events must be privately funded or supported by revenue generated at the stadium. Since its inception, the stadium has received significant public scrutiny regarding its operation and revenues; it and has been the subject of many years of contractual disputes and multiple civil grand jury reports (Unsportsmanlike Conduct, Irreconcilable Differences, Outplayed).

To comply with Measure J, the city has produced agreements with the Bay Area Host Committee for both 2026 events to ensure that Santa Clara’s funds and assets are protected. The Bay Area Host Committee is a nonprofit organization that attracts national and international sporting events to be hosted in the Bay Area. For 2026, the City Manager will also be forming a Major Events Taskforce that will meet to provide advice and support to the City Manager on planning the 2026 major events, which include community/business events, philanthropic efforts, and a communications strategy to keep the public informed of the events.

The mayor would like to ensure that the city offers more transparency and accountability around the stadium’s operations—and that these 2026 events benefit the community to the greatest extent possible. To this end, city staff have provided quarterly updates to the city council, apprising them of the status of the events. Santa Clara also plans to meet with representatives from all sectors of the city, including small to large businesses, public and nonprofit organizations, and the community. City communications will be developed in multiple languages and accessibility formats and communicated through multiple media channels.

As part of this engagement initiative, the fellow will assist in developing a Stadium Major Events Plan and Communications Strategy. This strategy would delineate ways to engage the public, build public trust, and improve relationships and collaboration with city partners, including tourism boards, local businesses, and event facilities. A successful plan would also help attract future major international events, streamline their deployment, and ensure the community remains informed.

Key questions to answer:

• How can the city improve its communications with the businesses and residents most impacted by stadium events?
• How would a streamlined process for the planning and deployment of future events help Santa Clara improve its long-term relationships with stakeholders?
• How might Santa Clara encourage its partners to help engage with the public regarding major events?
• What strategies can the city implement to build better relationships with event organizers?

What You’ll Do

To address these questions, the fellow will work closely with key internal stakeholders, specifically the Stadium Team (Chuck Baker, Assistant City Manager over Stadium; Christine Jung, Deputy City Manager) and the Communications team (Janine De la Vega, Public Information Officer); and engage external stakeholders, including:

• Levi’s Stadium Manager: the operator of the stadium for non-NFL Events.
• Bay Area Host Committee: a nonprofit that attracts major events to the Bay Area (including All-Star Games, college football championships, FIFA, Superbowls).
• Christine Lawson: CEO of Discover Santa Clara, a destination marketing organization and nonprofit that manages marketing and sales activities for the city’s hotels.
• Kelly Carr: General Manager of the Santa Clara Convention Center.

The key deliverable for this fellowship is the development of a Stadium Major Events Plan and Communications Strategy which the fellow will develop iteratively with the City Manager Major Events Taskforce. The strategy should cover the following key aspects:

1. Insights and information from internal and external stakeholders, including the Stadium Manager, Bay Area Host Committee, and City Communications Team.
2. Summary of research and analysis of existing data (e.g., satisfaction surveys, data on event users) to describe ways to engage the public, build public trust, and improve relationships and collaboration with city partners, including tourism boards, local businesses, and event facilities.
3. A summary presentation of the Stadium Major Events Plan and Communications Strategy for the city and taskforce.

What You’ll Bring

• Data analysis
• Marketing
• Communications
• Policy analysis
• Qualitative interviewing and analysis