The San Francisco 49ers have issued an official response to the practice facility conspiracy theory that has been going viral.
The 49ers practice next to an electrical substation operated by Silicon Valley Power. There is a theory - or, rather, a question - of if time next to a low-frequency electromagnetic field ultimately weakens tendons and causes soft-tissue damage. The 49ers have had several notable injuries over the years.
Margaret Fleming of FrontOfficeSports.com cited a “bevy of medical experts" that denounce the claims. The 49ers have practiced at the same facility since 1988. During that time, they've won won three Super Bowls and made three others.
The 49ers have officially responded to the theory, though.
And they're looking into it.
“What I would tell you, because it deals with allegedly the health and safety of our players, I think you have to look into everything,” G.M. John Lynch told reporters on Wednesday. “So, our guys have been — we’ve been reaching out to anyone and everyone to see does a study exist other than a guy sticking an apparatus underneath the fence and by coming up with a number that I have no idea what that means. That’s what we know exists. We’ve heard that debunked. So yes, we will look into it. We have. The health and safety of our players is of the utmost priority. We pour into it. Our ownership, [CEO] Jed [York], tremendous in terms of resources and we’ll always be cognizant of things. I know that a lot of games have been won at this facility since it opened. We aren’t going to turn a blind eye. We’ll look into everything.”
The 49ers will continue to explore everything.
“The health and performance of our players is at the utmost priority each and every year,” Lynch said. “You know, this year it was tough and it took a toll on our team. We’ll continue to look. Now, having said that, we’ve spent a lot of time and effort in recruiting really quality people and I think being at the forefront of injury prevention. I think this year probably because the star players that that went down there was a lot of attention given on that. The fact of the matter is injuries are a part of this game. And so, what we strive to do is never to eliminate injuries, but to mitigate injuries, and I think we have a lot of good processes. We’ll challenge them all. That process has begun. It never frankly stopped, but yes, we’ll look at everything and we’ll examine everything.”