San Francisco Chronicle: 49ers mulling relocation of practice facility next to substation that fueled EMF injury theory

The San Francisco Chronicle confirms that the 49ers are considering relocating their practice facility — currently the SAP Performance Facility next to Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara, infamously close to the Silicon Valley Power Northern Receiving Station whose transformers tower over the fields. The team has practiced at the Santa Clara site since 1988; the substation was installed in 1994 and expanded with Levi's Stadium in 2014. Football trending reporter Noah Furtado writes that the move is being framed by The Athletic and 49ers CEO Al Guido as driven by 'growing real estate limitations,' with the substation not cited as a factor. The relocation talk follows a year of high-profile injuries to Fred Warner (ankle fracture/dislocation), Nick Bosa (torn ACL) and George Kittle (torn Achilles), and a social-media theory blaming electromagnetic fields from the substation for the 49ers' chronically high adjusted games lost (highest league-wide 2013–21, top in 2020 and 2024, top-five in 2025). General manager John Lynch, citing an unnamed independent scientist whose findings were never published, told NFL owners' meetings in March that the EMF concern is a 'big nothingburger' and that the facility's exposure levels are '400 times less than unsafe zones.'

"The 49ers' practice field near Levi's Stadium has been the subject of unproven theories positing that the team's injury problems are due to a nearby electrical substation."

— Noah Furtado, San Francisco Chronicle

"Their practice fields are also infamously close to the Silicon Valley Power Northern Receiving Station, an electrical substation with transformers that tower over the facility."

— Noah Furtado, San Francisco Chronicle

"We're in a safe place of work, the levels … are 400 times less than unsafe zones. So it's a normal place of work. It's a normal gym. We are safe. We're healthy. And we feel really good about that."

— John Lynch, 49ers General Manager (March 2026 NFL owners' meetings)

🏈 San Francisco Chronicle: 49ers mulling relocation of practice facility next to substation that fueled EMF injury theory

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