49ers Investing Heavily in Expansion of Leeds United’s Stadium
The 49ers have spent lots of money this year, but only some of it went to their actual football team.
They gave Brock Purdy a five-year, $265 million extension, George Kittle a four-year, $76.4 million extension, and Fred Warner a three-year, $63 million extension. That's a ton of cash. But they also lost nine starting players and are sitting on more than $46 million in salary cap space. So they could have spent much more.
Instead, they bought Rangers FC, a soccer team in the Scottish Premier League. In addition, they're renovating Levi's Stadium, a project that will cost them $200 million. Finally, they're expanding Elland Road Stadium, the home of their other soccer team, Leeds United, which recently got promoted to the English Premier League.
The expansion of Elland Road is projected to cost roughly $200 million, maybe more. It's unclear if the 49ers will foot the entire bill or split it with the city of Leeds, but they certainly will invest a large sum of money into this project. They've already spent £10 million on planning the project before any work has been done.
So it makes sense why the 49ers would decide to get younger and cheaper on their football team this year. Their owners have decided to make major cash investments into two stadiums -- Levi's and Elland Road. In the meantime, they need their highly-paid coaches to get the most out of cheaper players.
It's unclear how these big-money investments in soccer teams and their stadiums will help the 49ers' football team in the future. I'm guessing the 49ers' owners hope that Leeds United fans will become 49ers fans if football ever becomes popular in England.
Good luck with that.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com/nfl/49ers as 49ers Investing Heavily in Expansion of Leeds United's Stadium.
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This story was originally published June 30, 2025 at 5:40 PM