City Doesn’t Strike It Rich With 49er Turf

Redwood City, for 30 years the training site of the San Francisco 49ers, failed to strike it rich by selling the team’s Astroturf.

The City Council was thrown for a loss when it agreed to sell several acres of the faded green carpet to an Antioch-based model airplane club for $2,509--far less than the $1 million the city had hoped to make by selling the turf as football memorabilia.

The city decided to put the carpet out to bid recently after trying for more than a year to sell coasters, plaques and other items created from the carpet. Sales were dismal, even after the city sank more than $26,000 into marketing. The 49ers left Redwood City in 1988.