On-Field or Off-Field, the News is Still Bad

Oh, 49ers, how you never cease to amaze me. Today, the team sent out an email to "celebrate" the one-year anniversary of the stadium vote.

"The hard hats are ready to go at the new stadium in Santa Clara," says the email, while detailing the "progress" thus far. Among the highlights: millions of dollars spent finalizing designs and prepping the site for work, finalization of the environmental review process (take note that the PROCESS has been finalized - not the approval), the construction of a preview center and the approval for a "possible" future Super Bowl on the Santa Clara site (don't ask me how you approve the possibility of an event happening - you don't question Lil'Jed and his posse of nerds).

However, the San Jose Mercury News also marked this anniversary with some pomp and circumstance of their own in the form of a front-page article, titled "One year after vote, Santa Clara 49ers stadium far from easy score."

The article details the pitfalls that the franchise has encountered since last year's stadium measure was approved by Santa Clara voters, including a $50 million dollar increase in the facility's price tag and a one-year delay in the estimated completion of the project.

What a difference a year makes, huh? Here are a few stadium issues the Merc has identified:

• The current lockout, which will prevent the team from knowing how much money the NFL will contribute until the league reaches a contractual agreement with the players' association.
• League stakeholders who still want the 49ers and Raiders to share a stadium, despite the Raiders having no desire to move to the South Bay.
• Santa Clara's general fund budget that was promised to voters can no longer be allocated for the stadium construction.
• Both the 49ers and the city of Santa Clara have not disclosed where their money or budget is coming from.
• The aforementioned $50 million price increase, putting the final total at nearly $1 billion. Nobody knows who's paying this extra cost.
• Gov. Jerry Brown's proposal to discontinue agencies statewide, jeopardizing up to $41.6 million that is supposed to come from Santa Clara's Redevelopment Agency. The city says the team would be responsible for paying this money, while the team said the funds need to come from the city.

The Merc isn't just content to talk about off-field news today, though. Tim Kawakami, who's been observing the Niners' unsanctioned workouts this week, writes that erstwhile and allegedly future starting quarterback Alex Smith and (supposedly) top receiver Michael Crabtree aren't exactly the best of pals.

I'll say this for Smith - he's doing everything he can to assume a leadership role with this team (unfortunately, we had to wait for six years and an expired contract for this to happen). Crabtree, meanwhile, continues to show that he's a me-first diva that has never participated in a full training camp or single preseason game while failing to take his game to the next level.

Crabtree's latest excuse for not participating in yesterday's session? Sore feet from new cleats. Unbelievable. Every day, it's something else with this guy. Somebody needs to tell him that he's being paid to be one of the best receivers in the league, and unless he starts working WITH his teammates, that's never going to happen.

And that's the way it is. I'm not reporting the news, just compiling it.