49ers to play December home games at Cardinals stadium after Santa Clara County ceases all sports

The San Francisco 49ers have concluded their search for a new place of residence after Santa Clara Country, where Levi’s Stadium is located, issued new COVID-19 regulations that include a temporary ban on all school, college sports and professionals. The team announced Monday that its home games in Weeks 13 and 14 against the Buffalo Bills and the Washington football team will be played at the Cardinals’ home stadium, State Farm Stadium in Arizona.

The move comes after California experienced its worst COVID-19 wave to date. San Francisco and San Mateo counties put in place similar restrictions to Santa Clara, which limited nearby options for the 49ers as they sought a new temporary home. Under Santa Clara County’s new restrictions, a 14-day quarantine is required for anyone traveling to and from the country over 150 miles away, which Buffalo and Washington certainly fall under, which means that the Niners had to look elsewhere.

49ers coach Kyle Shanahan expressed disappointment on Sunday at the county’s decision and the lack of communication between the county and the team, given the cooperation between the teams previously.

“We worked with them as a partner, just trying to understand,” Shanahan said. “So that we were leaving here yesterday and the relationship that we have with them, that all of our players and coaches and everyone on that plane and our wives find out as we get on a plane and no one to tell us. C ‘was just extremely disappointing. “

As the rest of the country grapples with the COVID-19 outbreak, the NFL has also not been able to hide from the pandemic. A number of teams, including the Steelers, Ravens and Colts, have recently struggled with positive COVID-19 tests appearing across their respective organization and, in the case of the Steelers-Ravens, their game had to be postponed two times. The league also sent a note to the 32 clubs advising them that all in-person activities will be halted on Monday, November 30 and Tuesday, December 1 to try to limit the number of positive tests that could result from Thanksgiving. vacation.