NFL facing decision on Chargers-Raiders
Here’s a question: If the NFL doesn’t seem to care very much about about its players’ brains, will it care about their lungs?
That’s the question that hovers in the air over the Raiders this week, just like the thick smoke in which they’ve been practicing.
On Thursday, the Raiders cut short practice again because of the poor air conditions, caused by smoke from the Wine Country fires. The team also moved practice to earlier in the day than usual, hoping for a better window of air quality.
Some players, including Michael Crabtree and Jalen Richard, wore white face masks while they practiced.
“You can feel it outside, it’s a little hard to breathe and a couple of guys say they could feel it in their throats,” Richard said. “It’s a shortness of breath, kind of like a Denver-altitude feel, except you can taste it.”
The Raiders made the face masks available to all the players. A Raiders spokesman said the situation is being monitored hour by hour. Air-quality indexes indicate the air in Oakland could remain “unhealthy,” through Sunday. It certainly was unhealthy in Alameda this week, causing the average person to feel it in his or her lungs and those with any kind of lung condition to feel under siege.
The Air Quality Index for Oakland at 1 p.m. Thursday — approximately 72 hours before game time — was 157. The recommendation from the Environmental Protection Agency’s Air Now website is that: “People with heart or lung disease, older adults and children should avoid prolonged or heavy exertion. Everyone else should reduce prolonged or heavy exertion.”
Michael Signora, the league’s vice president of football communications, said league officials will “continue to monitor air-quality conditions in the Bay Area and are in close communication with both the Raiders and Chargers, as well as local authorities.”
“At this point, the game remains scheduled for Sunday in Oakland.”
Of course, there are much bigger concerns than whether a football game is played. The Raiders, who have held training camp every summer in Napa since 1996, know that as well as any team.
“That kind of stuff, that’s real life,” quarterback Derek Carr said this week. “Our prayers are with them.”
But the show must go on. Somewhere.
And though much of the public treats football players like machines who aren’t supposed to have health concerns or political points of view, they are human with lungs made of tissue that aren’t supposed to absorb smoke particles.
In 2003, the NFL moved a home game for the San Diego Chargers to Arizona because of wildfires. The Monday night game against Miami was moved with just 24 hours notice.
Air quality wasn’t the main issue then. At the time, the parking lot at Qualcomm Stadium was being used as an evacuation center, and surrounding residential areas had been evacuated. Back then, the NFL said, “The residents of greater San Diego are suffering from terrible fires, and public health and safety are the urgent priorities.”
The game was moved to Sun Devil Stadium, and tickets were given away for free. The game drew a capacity crowd.
The league would need to make a decision as soon as possible if it chooses to move Sunday’s game. What would the options be if the NFL decided to take such a step? Well, the 49ers are on the road against Washington on Sunday, so Levi’s Stadium is available. On Thursday, the air quality in Santa Clara was better than in Oakland, with an AQI of 132, but still deemed “unhealthy for sensitive groups.”
There’s also a nice big empty stadium in San Diego, the same stadium that was being used as a fire-evacuation center 14 years ago. On Thursday, the San Diego mayor’s office said it was willing to help the league that abandoned the city and make what used to be known as Qualcomm available. It would be interesting to see what the reception for the Chargers would be in San Diego. We know what it would be for the Raiders.
“It would be like a home game,” Richard said.
The speed athletes like Richard — the other running backs, the wide receivers and the defensive backs — are the ones who would be most impacted by the unhealthy air.
“For sure, the more you’re exerting yourself, the more you’re going to feel it,” Richard said.
Also at risk will be any of the fans whose lungs might be compromised.
“It’s not good,” defensive coordinator Ken Norton Jr. said, “but we haven’t been out in it very often. The leadership has done a good job of getting us on and off the field, so it hasn’t affected us in a negative way.”
Not yet. But we don’t know what will happen in the next few days.