Blame Gavin Newsom for fight with the 49ers on Levi’s Stadium fans
Don’t blame Santa Clara County officials or the San Francisco 49ers for their squabble over whether fans should be allowed to attend the team’s remaining home games at Levi’s Stadium.
The problem — yet again — stems from Gov. Gavin Newsom’s faulty leadership on the pandemic. In football parlance, governor, you need a new playbook.
It boggles the mind that Newsom would think about opening pro sports stadiums and amusement parks in California, even at a reduced capacity, as a third surge of coronavirus cases is taking hold across the country. But that’s what the new state guidelines announced Tuesday allow.
COVID-19 cases are on the rise in 38 states. California on Thursday announced the highest death toll from the coronavirus in nearly a month. In the Bay Area, a majority of counties are reporting more new cases than a week ago. And Santa Clara County, home to Levi’s Stadium, only moved — barely — from “red” to “orange” status on Oct. 13. It won’t take much in the way of an uptick in cases to force the county back to its more-restrictive status.
The governor should ask what’s more important — protecting the possibility of returning children to school or the luxury of letting fans hoist a brew and cheer on their team on Sundays? How many people should fall seriously ill or die to protect professional sports?
This isn’t the first time the governor has prematurely reopened the economy. Newsom’s strategy has consistently led to opening businesses, beaches and malls before sufficient testing and contact tracing was in place to adequately control the coronavirus. The results have led to a California roller coaster ride of 887,445 cases and 17,192 deaths, as of Wednesday.
The state’s announcement last week took Santa Clara County Executive Jeff Smith by surprise. He was right to nix the notion of allowing up to 14,000 fans in Levi’s Stadium without proper assurances that it could be done safely.
Attending a game is not like sitting down for a quiet dinner or a relaxing day at the park. People are constantly yelling and screaming, heightening the risk of spreading COVID-19. Enforcing social distancing and mask wearing in a stadium setting would create substantial challenges. And the potential danger could be widespread: Some 49er fans travel well over 100 miles to watch the games.
49er President Al Guido makes a legitimate point when he asks the county to meet and discuss what the protocols would be for a safe opening of the stadium, including how many people could attend in a safe manner. Guido acknowledges that allowing 14,000 fans into the stadium for games is unrealistic, but in a outdoor stadium with 60,000 seats, he makes a compelling argument that a total of 500 family and friends could likely be safely accommodated.
But the governor’s guidelines go far beyond that. The bottom line is the county and the 49ers wouldn’t be having this debate if the governor would stop fumbling every time he runs a pandemic play.