The San Francisco 49ers have taken part in joint practices with other teams in recent years. Last year, the team practiced with the Denver Broncos at their facility in Colorado. It practiced with the Houston Texans in 2018.
The NFL has put a hold on joint efforts for one offseason, amid continued concerns surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic. The league informed the 32 NFL teams on Tuesday that training camps must be conducted at team facilities this year, according to Mike Garafolo of NFL Network and as reported by Nick Shook of NFL Media.
From @NFLTotalAccess on the league telling teams to stay at home for training camp this year. No mention of whether fans will be allowed to attend, though you can probably guess which way that's likely headed. pic.twitter.com/gkyurv1ebQ
— Mike Garafolo (@MikeGarafolo) June 2, 2020
The decision comes from both the NFL and the NFLPA.
What if an NFL team isn't allowed to conduct training camp at its facility? There is an exception if that team can demonstrate "to the satisfaction of a joint NFL-NFLPA medical task force" that it cannot hold training camp at its facility.
"We know how good these facilities are these days, so most teams should be able to do that," Garafolo said on NFL Network.
Assuming local county restrictions don't prevent the 49ers from holding training camp at their facilities, it should not be an issue doing so in Santa Clara. That is where the team regularly holds its training camp. There are NFL clubs, like the Pittsburgh Steelers and Dallas Cowboys, who hold their training camps away from team facilities to either create a better fan experience, work within a larger footprint, reach their fanbase outside of their home area, or a combination of those reasons.
"We believe that each of these steps will enhance our ability to protect the health and safety of players and your football staffs and are consistent with a sound approach to risk management in the current environment," Commissioner Roger Goodell said in the memo to NFL teams.
Goodell goes on to state that the limitations will only impact the 2020 offseason, and are not expected to be in place in 2021.
"Not mentioned in the memo, by the way, will there be fans at training camp?" Garafolo added. "That's something that remains under discussion. You can see which way this is going, so I would say that's a possibility, that you'd have no fans at camp, but nothing determined right now."