49ers to Play Home Games at Cardinals' Stadium Amid COVID-19 Restrictions

The San Francisco 49ers announced Monday the team will be hosting its scheduled home games in Weeks 13-14 at the State Farm Stadium in Arizona. 

The shift in locales comes after Santa Clara County—home to Levi's Stadium, where the Niners play—suspended all contact sports for the next three weeks due to the COVID-19 pandemic and November's spike in positive cases.  

On Sunday, 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan told reporters that he and the team learned about the county's decision while they were traveling to Los Angeles to face the Rams:

"For us to be heading out here yesterday and the relationship we have with them and for our players and coaches and everyone on that plane and our wives to find that out while we're getting on a plane and no one to tell us, it was just extremely disappointing.

"I get it: They made that decision, and we've got to deal with it, but to find that out through a tweet or a press conference, where I have an entire plane coming up to me, I have all wives, everyone's girlfriends, everyone's family members, kids, saying they heard we could be gone for the entire month of December? Are we going to be quarantined for 14 days when we get back? That's all we could talk about for the last 18 hours because we got no answers from them. I was just very disappointed."

The Niners will now host the Buffalo Bills this weekend and the Washington Football Team the following week, both in Arizona. The only remaining home game on the schedule for the team is a Jan. 3 matchup with the Seattle Seahawks, which could also end up in Arizona if Santa Clara extends its ban on contact sports into the new year. 

It's undoubtedly an inconvenience for the defending NFC champions as they look to fight their way back into a playoff berth after a tough start to the season. Such is life in the NFL amidst the COVID-19 pandemic.