Vote Favors 49ers

The 49ers’ threats about leaving town are gone in the thrill of victory.

After pulling out a heart-stopping Election Day triumph in a drive for a new stadium, the team hurried to renew its vows to the city and looked ahead to building its dream home.

“I think we created something special here. I didn’t want to lose it,” club owner Eddie DeBartolo said after learning the final tallies from Tuesday’s balloting put the team’s proposed $525 million stadium-mall over the top - barely. The proposal passed with just a few hundred votes to spare out of some 170,000 cast. It needed a simple majority.

DeBartolo and team president Carmen Policy had said in recent weeks that the five-time Super Bowl champions might move to Los Angeles or elsewhere if voters rejected the stadium proposal.

The new stadium, expected to be finished in about three years, will be adjacent to 37-year-old 3Com Park at Candlestick Point.

The vote ended a bitter three-month campaign during which backers of the stadium plan overcame a 17 percent deficit in the polls.