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When the regular season schedule emerged in May, the evidence was hiding in plain sight. If the 49ers couldn’t play games at their own stadium due to the pandemic, Arizona made the most sense, given that the 49ers and Cardinals would never play at home on the same day.
With the 49ers now unable to play at home, Arizona has become the first choice for out-of-town 49ers games.
Via NFL Media’s Ian Rapoport, State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Ariz., Has become “the most likely option” for the 49ers. Another option would be a stadium in Texas.
An NFL stadium becomes critical to this equation because of the technology connecting each stadium to the league office, allowing for real-time reviews. The quality of the playing surface is also an issue; at a time when not all NFL fields are always up to par, many non-NFL fields would be even worse.
The 49ers will likely create a bubble wherever they go, especially since they won’t be able to train in Santa Clara County between games. At this point, they should just go to a hotel close to where they will be training and playing, and they should stay there for the rest of the season.
The NFL Players Association will likely have a say in this, if players are made aware that their work becomes, in practice, a 24/7 proposition until the end of the season. Since the alternative for players is not to play home games at all (and players are not getting paid for them), the union will likely agree. If, however, these drastically changed circumstances result in players being away from home for at least five weeks, players should be given the option to retire for the remainder of the season, giving up their salary balance but not suffering. penalties or punishment for walking away.
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