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49ers' new stadium gets 50th Super Bowl

The 2016 Super Bowl will be played in Santa Clara, Calif., at the new home of the 49ers. Houston is awarded the 2017 game.

THE 50TH Super Bowl will be held in the San Francisco Bay Area and the NFL championship will go to Houston the following year.

Team owners voted yesterday for the 49ers' new stadium as host of the 2016 game. That facility in Santa Clara, Calif., is due to open for the 2014 season.

San Francisco beat out South Florida, which was stymied in its bid to stage an 11th Super Bowl when the Florida Legislature did not support financing to renovate Sun Life Stadium.

"After losing a Super Bowl [to Baltimore last February], it feels really good to win a Super Bowl," 49ers CEO Jed York cracked.

The only previous Super Bowl played in northern California was at Stanford Stadium in 1985.

Houston, which also beat out Miami, was awarded the 2017 title game. It has hosted once before, in 2004.

Next Feb. 2, the game goes outdoors in a cold-weather site for the first time, at MetLife Stadium in the New Jersey Meadowlands. If that gamble pays off for the NFL, look for other cities in similar climates to bid for future Super Bowls.

Noteworthy * 

Dallas Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo will miss at least 3 weeks of offseason workouts after a procedure to remove a cyst from his back.

* The agent for New England's Rob Gronkowski said the tight end's latest surgery is expected to be the last on his forearm. Gronkowski had his fourth surgery on Monday on the left forearm that he broke on Nov. 18.

* Free agent defensive back Charles Woodson signed a 1-year contract with the Oakland Raiders to return to his original team.