Warriors, Cal have green light to play ball

Santa Clara is the only county in state with halt on contact sports

Despite tighter COVID-19 restrictions coming to their counties, both the Warriors and the University of California athletic teams will continue as scheduled, health officials said Friday.

Officials representing San Francisco, where the Warriors are headquartered, and the City of Berkeley said they would “align with the state” on the issue of sports.

Santa Clara County stands alone among the state’s 58 counties, having issued a three-week ban on contact sports that has scattered its pro and college teams. The 49ers moved their headquarters to Glendale, Arizona, on Wednesday. Stanford has relocated its football team to the Pacific Northwest. San Jose State will play its “home” game today in Hawaii and then set up camp in Reno, Nevada.

The Warriors, on the other hand, are scheduled to open training camp Monday in San Francisco and play their first exhibition game Saturday at Chase Center.

“In San Francisco, we are aligning with the state,” Dr. Tomás Aragón, health officer for the San Francisco Depart

ment of Public Health, said Friday at a news conference of of ficials representing f ive Bay A rea counties. “In addition to aligning with the st ate, we require teams, both professional and collegiate sports, to have an approved plan before they can practice or play.”

UC Berkeley can also continue its sports seasons — including football and men’s and women’s basketball — with approval from the City of Berkeley.

“We will allow Cal to play their sports,” Berkeley Public Health Officer Dr. Lisa Hernandez said. “They have a detailed return- to-play plan that I have reviewed and provided feedback, and they have been using that plan for several months.”

Despite the developments in surrounding counties, the top health official in Santa Clara County, Dr. Sara Cody, held firm on her order last Saturday to ban contact sports.

“We took action because of the position we’re in with our surging cases,” she said.

• The No. 2- ranked Stanford women’s basketball team, without a home since the Santa Clara County ban, will play its next two games in Las Vegas at the Thomas & Mack Center.

After a game today against Nevada-Las Vegas, Stanford will open its Pac12 season Sunday against Washington.

Its game Tuesday against Washington State, also scheduled to be played in Las Vegas, was postponed Friday because the Cougars do not have the minimum number of scholarship players available. Washington State won’t play Cal on Sunday, either.

Stanford coach Tara VanDerveer is four wins away from passing Pat Summitt ( 1,098-208) as the winningest coach in women’s college basketball history.

•Santa Clara announced Friday its men’s basketball team will play today against New Mexico State at Kaiser Permanente Arena in Santa Cruz.