San Francisco 49ers ready for return of fans for first time since 2020 NFC championship game — San Francisco Business Times
Days away from a public practice at Levi’s Stadium, the San Francisco 49ers unveiled a game plan for welcoming fans to the Santa Clara stadium for the first time since the NFC championship game in January 2020.
Just don’t expect everything to be executed perfectly, said franchise President Al Guido.
The on-field team is 90% of players are vaccinated against the Covid-19 virus that caused the National Football League last year to play in front of no or limited crowds. With a severe Covid outbreak then under way in the Bay Area, particularly in Santa Clara County, public health measures drew up the team’s playbook.
Those local rules continue to referee operations as the 49ers ready for a public practice Saturday at Levi’s Stadium. That event, expected to attract 10,000 to 20,000 fans, will cost $10 with proceeds going to the 49ers Foundation.
Starting with the team’s Aug. 14 pre-season game against the Kansas City Chiefs, the 49ers are ramping up for more fans at the 68,500-seat stadium.
Fans will be required to mask up indoors; outdoors, including in the stadium bowl, fans can remove masks, Guido said, adding that he’s spoken to Larry Baer at the San Francisco Giants and leadership of other Bay Area pro sports teams about their experiences with the return of fans.
“We’re going to encourage what everybody’s encouraging, which is mask up, get vaccinated, be smart about what you’re doing,” Guido said.
Speaking as the 49ers showcased the stadium’s new Cache Creek Club and other improvements, including 55,000 new red seats in the bowl, Guido said the 49ers have seen more demand leading up to this season than at any other time since Levi’s Stadium opened in 2014.
On Saturday, the team also will install three new 49ers hall of fame statues — of Patrick Willis, Bryant Young and John Taylor — in its on-site museum.
“Some of that, obviously, is the team that we have, that we’re going to put on the field, but I think some of that is when you look at our county and our state — our vaccination rates are high, people feel comfortable coming into places,” Guido said.
But Guido pleaded for fans to be patient, because reopening a stadium for the first time in 19 months is like reopening a restaurant.
“We’re kind of working through our list of things to do. We’re turning on all our TVs for the first time in a while,” he said. “It will not be perfect.”
Originally published at https://www.bizjournals.com.
