SANTA CLARA — City leaders are blasting the 49ers’ handling of the sold-out U2 concert at Levi’s Stadium, criticism the team said is unwarranted and politically-driven.

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San Francisco 49ers sue Santa Clara, claim Levi’s Stadium contract breach At a city council meeting Tuesday, Mayor Lisa Gillmor said the team is “deliberately” planning to ignore a 10 p.m. midweek curfew for the Wednesday concert, a violation of city law.

City leaders are also blaming the 49ers for not planning ahead to arrange adequate public transit following the Wednesday night concert, specifically for not being willing to pay for extra light rail service for an estimated 5,000 to 6,000 concertgoers expected to ride the trains. VTA eventually decided to provide the extra trains without an agreement with the team or the city.

“The reason we’re in this situation is because the 49ers, who manage the stadium, decided on their own to violate our city law, which is our noise ordinance,” Mayor Lisa Gillmor said during Tuesday’s council meeting. “It’s created problems for VTA. It’s created problems for Santa Clara. It’s really going to create problems for our neighborhood and our residents.”

Officials with the 49ers on Wednesday disputed the criticism, saying officials with the Valley Transportation Authority demanded “thousands of dollars” from the 49ers to provide extra light rail service. And stadium officials said there is “no guarantee” the concert will go past the 10 p.m. curfew, adding a rehearsal on Tuesday ended on time.

“A lot of inaccuracies are being thrown out around here,” said Jim Mercurio, the vice-president of stadium operations and general manager of Levi’s Stadium.

Regarding extra light rail service, Mercurio said he was notified 10 days ago that VTA was not going to run special event service unless “we paid them tens of thousands of dollars, which we were shocked about.”

“For the biggest concert show in the world, to your city and showcase how VTA works, and they try to strong arm us for money, service that many people pay taxes for?” Mercurio said.

The handling of the U2 concert is the latest in a string of disputes between the 49ers and the city council, including a lawsuit filed by the 49ers in January claiming city leaders “falsely accused” the NFL team of violating its contract. City leaders and 49ers officials have also clashed over financial audits and youth soccer fields near Levi’s Stadium.

City leaders are upset that the U2 concert may end after 10 p.m., noting the Levi’s website said the concert is expected to be over by 11 p.m., despite the council’s decision in January to deny a request by the 49ers to extend the curfew by one hour. In the Tuesday meeting, Interim City Attorney Brian Doyle reminded the council that the 49ers run non-NFL events for the city and are obligated to follow the council’s decisions.

“They are simply our hired manager,” Doyle said.

However, the 49ers they were surprised when the city council in January denied their request for a one-hour extension for one of the biggest concerts of the year.

Bob Lange, vice president of communications for the 49ers, said not long after their request for a curfew extension was denied, neighboring Great America was granted about 30 curfew extensions.

Councilman Pat Kolstad, who voted to grant an extension for the U2 concert, said “we ruled one way for the stadium and the other way for the amusement park.”

Kolstad fears by not allowing some concessions, such as a curfew extensions, big music and entertainment promoters will look at other venues in the Bay Area.

“If we create a scenario where acts, whether big or little, don’t want to perform in our stadium, over time we’re going to lose money,” Kolstad said.

Doyle voiced some of the strongest criticism at the Tuesday night council meeting, saying the Forty Niners Stadium Management Company is “not adequately managing the non-NFL events.”

Lange strongly disputed that characterization, noting that Levi’s “has hosted more non-NFL events in its first three years than any other new stadium, including Wrestlemania, the NHL Outdoor Game, the Pac-12 title game and several big-name concerts. Lange said Levi’s Stadium has generated more than $8.5 million for the city coffers in its first two years.

“We’re running a business on behalf of the stadium authority,” Lange said. “Our job is to book world class events to deliver on financial goals in our management agreement.”

“If we weren’t great at running a stadium these event promoters would not be coming to Levi’s Stadium,” Lange said.

Still, the council voted to have Doyle send the company a letter first thing Wednesday morning stating they should make every effort to make the Wednesday night concert end by 10 p.m..

What happens if Bono and his bandmates play past the curfew, which is expected? Then the 49ers could receive a citation and $1,000 fine. However, council members were discussing taking stronger action in the future.

“We need a stronger penalty and more teeth to make sure it doesn’t happen again,” councilwoman Kathy Watanabe said. “And it’s going to happen again.”

Mayor Gillmor, who once supported the new stadium but has since become a staunch critic of 49ers owner Jed York, agreed, saying “if money is the only thing you’re going to listen to, then we’re going to have to put money as a violation.”

As of late last week, there was no additional light rail service planned, meaning between 5,000 to 6,000 concertgoers could have been stranded after the show, Councilwoman Teresa O’Neill said. O’Neill, who also sits on the Valley Transportation Authority’s board, realized no extra service was planned and worked with VTA to provide enough trains for fans after the show.

At the council meeting, Jim Lawson, a senior policy adviser for VTA, said officials with the transit agency had conversations with the 49ers stadium management regarding extra services for the concert. Lawson said VTA officials sent the 49ers a proposal for extra light rail service on May 5 and never received a response.