INDIANAPOLIS -- The NFL has approved a decision to loan $200 million to the San Francisco 49ers to help finance a new stadium in Santa Clara, Calif., where the team's headquarters are located.
Team president and CEO Jed York said the construction timeline -- which was part of the proposal to the NFL -- projects that the stadium will be built by 2015, but added that the stadium could be done by 2014.
York also said the 49ers will get in on bidding for a Super Bowl.
He called the development "a big step forward" on his Twitter feed.
"With the NFL's muscle now behind the new stadium, we are moving forward," York said in a release issued by the team. "I expect an official ground-breaking ceremony very soon. Get your hard hats ready; we are embarking on the path to the next generation of 49ers football."
According to the release, the 49ers are the first team to draw from the so-called "new stadium fund" that came out of the league's new collective bargaining agreement.
York also said the 49ers will get in on bidding for a Super Bowl.
The team and Santa Clara announced in December that they'd received an $850 million loan to cover most of the estimated $1 billion cost.
The rest of the cost will be covered by the league's loan, a hotel tax and Santa Clara's redevelopment funds.
The 49ers play in Candlestick Park. The stadium made headlines when the lights went out twice during the 49ers game against the Steelers on Dec. 19.
Follow Steve Wyche on Twitter @wyche89.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
