San Francisco 49ers change bidding practices to build diverse workforce

SANTA CLARA, Calif. (KGO) -- The San Francisco 49ers are responding to a letter that's accusing them of leaving out minority-owned businesses in the construction of the new Levi's Stadium.

The organization says they're committed to ensuring more diversity as far as contracts go at the stadium.

According to our media partner, the San Jose Mercury News, the 49ers say they're changing the way they handle their contract bidding process so as to include more diverse workforces.

Last April, a civil rights group sent an open letter to the 49ers accusing them of shutting out minority-owned firms when they were handing out contracts.

The 49ers say after receiving the letter, the team ordered the main contractor to reopen bids on jobs that had not started. That opportunity led to a black-owned Pleasanton firm winning a multimillion-dollar contract to provide all the furniture for the stadium.

While some have praised the changes, a San Francisco lawyer for civil rights told the San Jose Mercury News that even after the negative publicity, he estimates that minority firms only received about 2 percent of those contracts.

The team and top contractors are quoted in the paper explaining how some were left out of the process, saying the possibility of hosting Super Bowl 50 led them to rush the hiring process in order to complete the massive $1.2 billion stadium

on time.

ABC7 News called the 49ers organization and the Minority Business Consortium of San Jose and expect to hear from

both of them Tuesday and will provide more details as they become available.