For the first time since January 2020, the San Francisco 49ers will welcome fans to Levi's Stadium this month.
The 49ers expect between 15,000 and 20,000 fans to attend Saturday's training camp practice on "87 Day" in honor of franchise icon Dwight Clark, who wore the number and died of ALS on June 4, 2018.
A week later, the 49ers will host the Kansas City Chiefs for their preseason opener. It’s a rematch of Super Bowl LIV, which San Francisco lost 31-20, and the first game with fans at the Santa Clara venue since the 49ers advanced to that Super Bowl with a blowout win over the Green Bay Packers on Jan. 19, 2020.
The 49ers played six home games in an empty Levi's Stadium last year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, finishing out the regular season in Phoenix due to coronavirus restrictions in Santa Clara County amid a surge of infections.
"We do feel ready, for sure," 49ers President Al Guido told KCBS Radio's Dan Mitchinson, Holly Quan and Ted Ramey on Friday morning. "I assume there will be bumps along the way, given we hadn’t operated or had anyone in the stands in about 15 months."
Masks will be required in indoor spaces at the stadium, including elevators and restrooms, and the 49ers will provide masks for fans who don't bring one. Vaccinated fans aren’t required to wear masks outdoors, and the state encourages unvaccinated people to wear masks in crowded outdoor settings in areas with substantial to high transmission of COVID-19.
Santa Clara County currently has substantial transmission, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The county had a seven-day average of 259 new daily cases as of Thursday.
Guido said the 49ers have contingencies in place for the delta variant's continued spread, and they're still consulting with a team of local medical experts. They're prepared if the state starts requiring proof of vaccination, although Guido said the team doesn’t plan on implementing vaccinated and unvaccinated sections, which the Oakland Athletics and San Francisco Giants had prior to California lifting the majority of its coronavirus-related restrictions on June 15.
"When we look across our county and we look across the Bay Area as it relates to the percentage of people vaccinated, we feel very strongly that a large part of our season-ticket base is probably (vaccinated)," Guido said. " … Probably, what we're hearing, if anything, is you could hear of a sort of vaccine passport where everybody who comes to the building will be vaccinated."
All concessions at Levi’s Stadium will be cashless, with fans scanning a QR code to order food and drinks. Guido said fans should visit the 49ers' website or download the Levi's Stadium app for more information, while those without credit or debit cards will be able to load cash onto cards at the stadium.
The 49ers have spoken with the Athletics, Giants, San Jose Earthquakes and Sharks about hosting fans, gaining insight where they could. Still, nothing will compare to Saturday's dry run.
"What I would tell fans is just be patient with us," Guido said. "Again, we haven't done this. They haven't done it. There will be some new things at the stadium that they’ll see."
