City Doesn’t Strike It Rich With 49er Turf

REDWOOD CITY, Calif. — 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.