SAN JOSE — It was a no-nonsense face-off in court Monday between the NFL, the city of Santa Clara and a youth soccer league — and for the first time, new arguments came to light in the legal dispute over whether the NFL can use a soccer park next to Levi’s Stadium for Super Bowl 50.
Santa Clara County Superior Court Judge Joseph H. Huber said he wouldn’t rule until Tuesday on a case that’s made national and international headlines for pitting a volunteer youth soccer league against the powerful NFL — less than a month before the world’s biggest annual sporting event.
“Justice is not being done right now,” said Burt Field, a scheduler with the Santa Clara Youth Soccer League, standing outside the courtroom Monday. “We don’t have the manpower to go against people like the NFL.”
The youth soccer league sued Santa Clara and the NFL to seek an injunction to stop the NFL from taking over its 11-acre soccer park.
They claim city officials broke the law by allowing the NFL to use the city-owned soccer complex for a media and security center for next month’s Super Bowl 50. The move leaves 1,500 soccer players without a home for two months, according to advocates, who worry about damage to the fields.
But the judge wasted no time in dismissing claims about field damage related to the NFL’s use of the soccer fields, saying the football league’s contract requires it to make repairs and replace the two grass fields.
“I have to assume the NFL is free to do what it does in its contract with the city and they’ll follow up with their agreement,” Huber said.
After the judge dismissed the soccer league’s claims about field damage, the league’s attorney clung to the idea that players will miss hundreds of games from Jan. 4 to March 2 while the NFL occupies the soccer park.
Santa Clara city attorneys revealed they contacted operators of soccer fields at Avaya Stadium, San Jose State University and Morgan Hill to host games. The city had provided the Twin Creeks facility for the soccer league’s practices, but it’s too small to host games,
“All of the issues that have been raised as far as alternate sites have been met,” said Jim Wulfsberg, an outside attorney representing Santa Clara.
But the soccer league’s attorney says it’s unclear if those fields will be available for weekends.
“The question is, are they available for the times and dates that games are scheduled?” said Gautam Dutta. “We are looking for hard and fast commitments when it comes to the fields.”
City Attorney Ren Nosky couldn’t say whether the alternate fields would be available for the soccer league’s weekend games. “Some of the availability is still being worked out,” he said.
Dutta says the soccer league is ready to drop its request for an injunction if alternate fields are secured and paid for by the city.
All sides scheduled a phone conference Monday afternoon to try coming to a resolution before Huber’s expected ruling Tuesday.
This story will be updated.
Follow Ramona Giwargis at Twitter.com/ramonagiwargis or contact her at 408-920-5705.
