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An injury-filled season for the San Francisco 49ers has started a not-so-scientific theory that an electrical substation near the team’s facility is responsible for their ailments.
The topic has now taken center stage as Super Bowl 60 between the Seattle Seahawks and New England Patriots will take place at the home of the 49ers, Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara.
The NFL found no clear evidence of the theory, but the league’s chief medical officer told NBC Sports Bay Area on Thursday that the league will remain open-minded about the conjecture. 49ers general manager John Lynch also said the theory was worth looking into.
Neither of the Super Bowl teams are using the 49ers facility for practice, but that was determined weeks before the theory emerged. The Patriots are at Stanford University and the Seahawks are at San Jose State.
Tight end George Kittle was one of many 49ers to suffer a major injury this season. He appeared Friday ahead of the Super Bowl on the “Pat McAfee Show.”
McAfee started the conversation by stating he was told that running back Christian McCaffrey turns off his Wi-Fi at night because he’s become so worried about the theory.
“Christian is very aware,” Kittle told McAfee.
“As a professional athlete you’re doing everything to get 1% better. What about something that is making you 1% worse? If this substation is making you 1% worse, wouldn’t you want to know about it?”
McAfee responded, “The other side is certainly gonna say it’s 0%.”
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“Yea, they’re haters,” Kittle snapped back. “When they built the stadium, they quadrupled the size of the whole substation. So, a little bit of different energy coming off that thing since they expanded it.
“Fred Warner does practice and train there year-round. So, did he just absorb the electromagnetic stuff? And he’s only been hurt once in his career. So, is it people who leave and comeback are affected more than people who stay there year-round?”
McAfee closes with, “Hopefully they’ll get to the bottom of it.”
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