Nearly two years ago, the San Francisco 49ers and state environmental officials launched a campaign to create a specialized California license plate sporting the team’s logo.
The idea was to boost the famed football franchise’s image, and use most of the proceeds to help fund programs at California’s state parks system, similar to the way that other license plates raise money for Lake Tahoe, Yosemite, veterans programs and other causes.
But now, with less than five months until a make-or-break deadline, the team that has clinched top seed in the NFC playoffs is looking for a Hail Mary from its fans.
Under state law, motorists must pre-purchase 7,500 orders for any specialty license plate before the California Department of Motor Vehicles will agree to print it. As of this week, only 2,700 orders have come in for the 49ers plate, which was first unveiled in May 2022. The cost is $50 up front and $40 a year to renew, on top of normal vehicle registration fees.
“It’s a lofty goal,” said Justin Prettyman, executive director of the San Francisco 49ers Foundation, which is leading the effort. “I truly do believe that if we are able to get to 7,500, the plates will then sell themselves.”
Facing a similar shortfall with fewer than 2,000 pre-orders after a year of trying, the Los Angeles Rams quietly dropped their campaign last year to create a specialty plate to help fund state parks. But the 49ers asked the DMV for an extension, and now have until May 31 to hit pay dirt or fumble the opportunity.
It isn’t for lack of effort. Hall-of-Fame receiver Jerry Rice already pitches the plate on the scoreboard at Levi’s Stadium during home games. Team officials plan to ramp up digital advertising, and the California Natural Resources Agency, which is partnering with the 49ers on the project, will have a booth at Levi’s Stadium on Sunday for the 49ers-Rams game trying to secure more sign-ups.
“We want to continue sharing the sense of urgency,” said Tony Anderson, a spokesman for the Resources Agency, which oversees the state parks department. “The sooner folks can get their orders in the better so we can meet that mark. We want to avoid people waiting until the last minute. It’s a great cause.”
The proposed plate has the simple yet iconic 49ers logo on it, with the words “Faithful to State Parks.”
Overall, 75% of the proceeds from sales would go to the state’s “Outdoors for All” program, which aims to expand access to parks to underserved communities, along with other state parks projects.
The nonprofit 49ers Foundation also would receive 25% of the proceeds for the team’s youth and science education programs.
The specialty 49ers plates are eligible for autos, trucks, motorcycles or trailers registered in California. More information and signup details are at 49ersplates.com.
More than $200 million has been raised over the years from California’s 14 specialty plates, among them the Yosemite plate, which funds projects in Yosemite National Park; a Snoopy plate that raises money for California museums; a whale-tail plate that has generated money for beach cleanups and coastal programs; a veterans plate that aids military veterans programs and other specialty plates.
But they don’t always succeed.
In recent years, other attempted plates to raise money for environmental causes, including a redwoods plate in 2017 to help fund redwood protection in parks and a Salton Sea plate to fund restoration of that beleaguered body of water in Imperial County, have died after not being able to reach the 7,500-mark.
In 2010, a plate with an image of the Golden Gate Bridge — whose backers hoped it would raise $1 million a year for the California Coastal Conservancy — failed to secure enough buyers, as did a plate featuring an image of bear and a mountain that would have funded projects of the Sierra Nevada Conservancy, a state agency.
One supporter of the idea of using license plates to raise money for environmental causes said Friday he’s not sure why the 49ers and Rams plates haven’t been more popular.
“The presumption was that there is a market for Rams and Niner fans to identify themselves via their license plates,” said State Sen. Josh Newman, D-Fullerton. “But maybe the market isn’t there. Or the marketing doesn’t work. It’s more likely that the marketing isn’t working.”
Newman said maybe for many fans, a decal and license plate frame is enough.
“There are 70,000 people at Niners games in Santa Clara,” he said. “You’d think there would be 7,500 people who’d want one.”
Like the other plates, if the 49ers plate doesn’t secure 7,500 pre-orders, refunds will be given to people who signed up to purchase it.
California’s most popular commemorative plates first came out in the 1990s, with big splashy artwork, like the Yosemite and Coastal Commission’s whale-tail plates.
But complicating the trend is a state law, signed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger in 2006, that limited the size of the art work on the plates. Prompted by concerns from the California Highway Patrol that officers were having a hard time reading the license plate numbers, the law required that any logo be no larger than 2-by-3 inches — about the size of a business card.
So 49ers fans wanting a big image of five Super Bowl trophies, or Dwight Clark pulling in “The Catch” will have to wait.
Many fans apparently aren’t even aware that the 49ers license plate campaign, which began in May 2022, exists.
“I haven’t heard of them” said Mary Lemos, a bartender at Kezar Pub, a long-time 49ers fan bar in San Francisco whose walls are covered with the teams memorabilia. “Our customers haven’t either. But if they knew, I’m sure they would be interested.”