Candlestick Park
Plans were underway to construct a new 68,000-seat stadium at Candlestick Point. On November 8, 2006, however, the 49ers announced that they would abandon their search for a location in San Francisco and begin to pursue the idea of building a stadium in Santa Clara. As a result, San Francisco withdrew its bid for the 2016 Olympics on November 13, 2006, as its centerpiece stadium was lost. Groundbreaking for the Santa Clara stadium occurred on April 19, 2012. On May 8, 2013, the media announced that the name of the new stadium would be Levi's Stadium. The stadium opened on July 17, 2014, in time for the 2014 NFL season. The 49ers christened their new home a month after it opened.
National Football League rivalries
The rivalry between the 49ers and Rams began in 1950. The rivalry became one of the most intense in the NFL in the 1970s as the two California-based teams (the Rams then play their home games in Los Angeles whereas the 49ers play their home games in San Francisco) regularly competed for the NFL's NFC West Division title. The two teams have contested 129 games, in which San Francisco leads 64–62–3. After the Rams relocated to St. Louis (in 1995), the rivalry had lost its geographical lore, although games were still intense. The cultural differences between the West Coast (where the 49ers are based) and the Midwest (where the Rams were based) also added to the intensity of the rivalry. In 2016, the Rams moved back to Los Angeles making the rivalry once again West Coast based. "Sports Illustrated" considers it the 8th best of all time in the NFL.