SANTA CLARA, Calif. — Take a left out of Gate C at Levi’s Stadium and navigate down Bill Walsh Way toward the San Francisco 49ers’ practice facility and you come upon a common but unsightly piece of infrastructure: an electrical substation.
There are tens of thousands of these stations spread across the U.S. helping to ensure the flow of energy across the electrical grid. But this one, just yards from where the Super Bowl will kick off Sunday, has taken on a particular level of infamy.
An injury-filled season for the 49ers has propelled an unfounded theory that this substation next to the team’s practice facility is responsible for their ailments. What started as an inside joke among players garnered public attention last month and spread on social media.
Since then, 49ers general manager John Lynch has said the conjecture is worth looking into, though the NFL’s chief medical officer has downplayed the possibility that the substation in Santa Clara, California, could pose an injury risk.
Neither of the Super Bowl teams is practicing at the Niners’ facility, though NBC Sports’ Mike Florio noted that these locations are determined long in advance of the game. The New England Patriots have set up shop at Stanford University, about a 20-minute drive from Levi’s Stadium. The Seattle Seahawks are at San Jose State, just to the southeast.
