49ers, NFL monitoring air quality ahead of season opener. Will the game be moved?
As if the COVID-19 pandemic hasn’t caused enough logistical issues for the NFL, now the league is monitoring smokey conditions in the Bay Area that could impact the start of the new season Sunday for the 49ers and Cardinals.
According to an NFL spokesman, the league and 49ers are continuing to monitor the air quality surrounding Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara as wildfires throughout the West Coast have led to unhealthy conditions heading into the first weekend of the regular season. If conditions worsen, there’s an outside chance the kickoff time is changed or the game is relocated.
The 49ers on Friday practiced at their facility adjacent to the stadium despite the air quality index approaching 200, which is the threshold for teams not to practice or play. The team remains hopeful its 1:25 p.m. kickoff goes unchanged.
“Hopefully it won’t get there, hopefully it’ll be safe,” head coach Kyle Shanahan said. “But (we) got to see what the wind does.”
The 49ers began practice this week in what Shanahan called an “apocalyptic state” Wednesday, when orange, smoke-filled skies became a national story as San Francisco’s picturesque bridges and skylines looked like the backdrop of a science fiction movie. The dramatic skies became more normal as the practice week went on, but the air quality continued to deteriorate as fires raged.
The league’s policy is to continue to monitor the air quality index through the website AirNow.gov developed by the EPA. The team and league also have their own contracted weather services to track the situation. The league will work with its medical officials to get their input and assess the risks for players stressing their bodies in potentially dangerous conditions.
Per the league policy: “NFL Football Operations will work closely with the home club and local authorities and will be prepared to relocate a game if there is definitive evidence that the AQI will remain consistently above 200 for a significant period of time, including the day of the game being played in the affected stadium.”
No contingency plans have been put in place as of Friday afternoon, but it would seem likely for the league to consider pushing the game to Monday at Levi’s Stadium should the AQI levels in the area Sunday remain at 200 or above for a prolonged period of time. The air quality index is considered difficult to forecast more than 24 hours out.
Shanahan was asked about the contingency plans and said he was unsure as his focus Friday remained on getting his team prepared to defend its NFC crown from 2019.
“I don’t try to worry about things I’m not involved in, so I’m just trying to get our team ready to play this game. I’m sure that the NFL has had discussions with other people, not any coaches I don’t think,” he said. “If it is at 200, I know that’s when they’ll decide whether we play or not, how to go forward with that. But I’m not really sure of the contingency plans.”