NFL notebook: Levi’s Stadium a vaccination site; Goodell addresses Kaepernick
The 49ers’ relationship with Santa Clara County, where their headquarters and Levi’s Stadium reside, appears to be improving.
The team on Friday, in conjunction with the county, announced Levi’s Stadium will become California’s largest COVID-19 vaccination site beginning “early next week.” The stadium will be able to facilitate 5,000 people per day while there are plans to expand the operation to 15,000 people per day as vaccination supplies increase.
This comes roughly two months after the two sides clashed when the county banned contact sports as part of its strict COVID-19 protocols near the end of the team’s regular season. The 49ers had to spend their final five weeks of the 2020 campaign practicing in Glendale, Ariz., where they held their final three home games in the Cardinals’ State Farm Stadium.
“We recognize the urgent need for an effective and equitable vaccination effort for our community and are proud to partner with the County of Santa Clara to bring this vaccination site online as quickly and efficiently as possible,” 49ers team president Al Guido wrote in a statement. “We have brought every resource at our disposal to bear on this challenge to ensure members of the community we live in each and every day can be vaccinated safely and quickly.”
The vaccines will be administered by the County of Santa Clara Health System. According to the CDC, 3.1 million people in California have received their first doses of the vaccine while 625,189 have received their second. California as of Friday had 42,466 deaths. That number nationwide is approaching 460,000 as numbers have spiked in recent months.
“We appreciate the 49ers stepping up during this difficult time and providing valuable space and resources in the fight against COVID-19,” said Mike Wasserman, President of the County of Santa Clara Board of Supervisors. “Sports binds communities together and the 49ers helping to vaccinate our community shows true leadership and winning teamwork.”
Information regarding vaccine appointments can be found on the county’s website here.
Goodell regrets not listening to Kaepernick
Former 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick remains out of the NFL, though the league has made strides toward publicly supporting his protest against racial discrimination and police brutality in light of Black Lives Matter protests from the spring and summer.
Commissioner Rodger Goodell was asked about Kaepernick this week ahead of Sunday’s Super Bowl after publicly apologizing to players over the summer for not listening to their concerns earlier.
“I would tell you that I said very clearly back in June that we wished we had listened to our players earlier,” Goodell said Thursday. “We had a lot of players that were coming and bringing these issues to us, and it didn’t start last summer. It started over two years ago, and we’ve been working with the Players Coalition over that period of time. Colin was one of the individuals who obviously brought a great deal of attention to this, and for that he deserves our recognition for that and our appreciation. But there are a lot of other players, and actually many of the other demonstrations started in 2014 with Ferguson.”
Kaepernick, now 33, has not come close to signing with a team since last playing for the 49ers in 2016. The NFL in Feb. 2019 settled an unspecified amount of money with Kaepernick after he filed a collusion lawsuit alleging he was being actively blackballed from the league.
While the NFL has made progress and worked with players more closely to highlight racial and social injustice issues, the league was initially in staunch opposition to Kaepernick’s decision to kneel during the national anthem as a peaceful form of protest.
“So from our standpoint, we now have a platform and an ability to work with our players to address those issues that they’ve identified in their communities, and our communities, that we can help and we can address,” Goodell said. “There’s a commitment on behalf of the entire ownership to that, not just financially but more importantly with our resources, and we’ll exceed that. I think the players deserve a lot of credit for that and I think the clubs do for supporting that, and we look forward to making a difference in our communities.”
Uncertainty surrounds 2021 season
Assuming the Super Bowl goes off without a hitch Sunday, the NFL will have gone the entire season without canceling a game amid the pandemic. And while that would be a significant win considering all the uncertainty surrounding the season over the summer, plenty of questions remain about the next season.
Will there be a spring program after not having any in 2020? What will the salary cap look like with revenues down substantially because fans couldn’t attend games? Will there be international games in London and/or Mexico City? How will the vaccine potentially change things?
Goodell was asked those questions Thursdays and, predictably, didn’t have many answers. One of the only certainties at the moment is there will be no scouting combine at Indianapolis, which means teams will rely on virtual meetings and college pro days to scout players.
“One of the things that I think I have learned, and I think all of us have learned, is try not to project too far in advance because it’s difficult to do,” Goodell said. “You know, go back to last March and early April, trying to project what the environment was going to be like from a safety standpoint, and where the virus, the pandemic was even to the Draft three weeks later, that’s when we made the determination, we needed to go virtual, we need to be prepared to do that and make the decisions as we got closer whether it was safe and the appropriate thing to do. I think that’s true with everything we do is, wait as long as you possibly can, be prepared for the uncertainty, and find solutions, work the problem. That’s what we’ve done.“
Goodell continued: “I know this – we have learned to operate in a very difficult environment, we have found solutions, and will do it again. And that’s hard, that’s what we believe is a lesson for us is here is the relationships. I think one of the most impressive things to me and meaningful things to me was hearing clubs in the NFLPA say, our relationship has never been stronger, the communication and the fact that we’re all working together as a team – and I interpret that as a trust that’s built here – will help us going forward, and it’ll be really the long-lasting legacy of this season ultimately.”
This story was originally published February 5, 2021 at 12:34 PM with the headline "NFL notebook: Levi’s Stadium a vaccination site; Goodell addresses Kaepernick."
