SANTA CLARA, CA—The city of Santa Clara is surrounded by San Francisco to the north and San Jose next door to the south. Its population of just over 118,000 is well below these neighboring cities, but starting in August, 2014 the NFC Champion San Francisco 49ers will play home its games in a new stadium here. The longtime headquarters for the team, the city is poised for permanent placement in the national and international sports spotlight.

The $1.2 billion Santa Clara Stadium will have the flexibility to host domestic and international soccer, college football, motocross, concerts, various civic events, and can be expanded for major events such as the Super Bowl. In fact, it has already been announced that the stadium is one of two finalists to host Super Bowl L in February, 2016 or Super LI in February, 2017. The stadium also will be home to the annual NCAA college football Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl beginning in 2014. Santa Clara Stadium will be the first professional football stadium to open with LEED certification, the recognized standard for measuring building sustainability.

Surrounding this unique sports venue is the city's Santa Clara Convention Center, California's Great America theme park, high-tech giants including Intel Corporation, Cisco Systems, and many others as well as a variety of major brand and independent hotels.