Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports
The 49ers don’t know, either.
The roller-coaster Tuesday, in which the state gave the OK to allow fans into Levi’s Stadium before Santa Clara County said no about an hour later, left the team’s fans in the same position as they entered the week: shut out from games for an undetermined amount of time.
Will there be 49ers fans in the home seats this year?
“I don’t know that answer,” 49ers president Al Guido said on KNBR on Wednesday. “We’re working tirelessly with the county and with the fanbase to make sure that they would feel safe at our games.”
They will have to work harder with the county than the fanbase. The 49ers got the greenlight from Gov. Newsom to allow 20 percent capacity of fans into home games, as Santa Clara County is in the orange (moderate) tier in terms of COVID-19 safety. It’s not good enough for Santa Clara yet, with Guido saying the team will have to begin presentations to show the county games with fans can be done safely.
To do so, he pointed at the other teams around the NFL that are hosting fans. There will not be tailgating, there will be temperature checks, there will be questionnaires to fill out before entering the stadium. Fans would be wearing masks and socially distanced in pods around Levi’s.
The fans could bring in food or have it delivered to their seats to avoid clusters at concession aisles, and they would enter and leave the park at staggered times so there wouldn’t be clogging at the entrances/exits.
Guido was doubtful they could or would reach the 13,000 number of fans that has been reported and said the team was open to allowing less than 20 percent in, at least to start, as a first step.
“We’ll be flexible about the numbers that we let into our building,” Guido told “Papa & Lund.” “… We think we can definitely pull it off safely. We have no concerns on that front.”
The last regular-season home game of the season comes Jan. 3, against the Seahawks. Guido said the team is thankful for Newsom’s “leadership and his thoughtful approach,” and it sounds as if presentations to persuade the county will come next.
“We all love watching [the 49ers] on TV, and we want them to be back in the stadium supporting our guys — trust me, I want that, too, but we need to do it in a safe manner,” Guido said. “I look forward to the days ahead of having more dialogue with the county on the best way to do that.”
