Levi's Stadium has seen its share of issues since opening in 2014. Parking and traffic were a big concern early on. The field itself had problems staying intact. Many of those issues have been worked on. The one complaint from fans that remains is the heat at Levi's Stadium, especially during games with earlier kickoff times.
San Francisco 49ers president Al Guido spoke with Matt Maiocco of NBC Sports Bay Area on the latest 49ers Insider Podcast to share information on how the team is honoring the late Dwight Clark this season. That information can be found here.
The topic of heat at Levi's Stadium came up later during the interview, and Guido said the team has looked into solutions and come to the conclusion that nothing structurally could be added to the stadium to improve the situation.
"We understand that there might be a game or two early in the season that might be warm," Guido said. "We cannot add shade. We cannot build a roof. It's not possible."
Maiocco asked why it wasn't possible to add something structurally to Levi's Stadium that would give fans some relief from the sun.
"It's a long answer, Matt," Guido responded. "I would say a lot of it stems from the FAA regulations. Structurally, what I would tell you is even if you could do it, it would take years to build to get something up there. To hang something 230 feet or [240] feet from the air, it has to be a structure. It can't be a sunshade or an umbrella or anything along those lines. It actually needs to be substantial."
Guido says last year was the first time the 49ers heard "loud and clear" complaints from fans about the heat at Levi's Stadium. The team also heard complaints during the stadium's inaugural season following games with earlier scheduled kickoffs.
"If you remember, and look, I'm not suggesting it didn't happen, it was more because we played early games in those first couple of years," Guido said. "Those Monday night games were late."
Kickoffs for the preseason games that year had earlier kickoffs as well, but Guido believes there was a reason those games didn't produce more complaints.
"Preseason games are preseason games, right?" Guido asked. "It was the first couple of games in the stadium, so people were trying to feel out all the other parts of the building. So the first time we heard it was [against the] Kansas City (Chiefs on October 5, 2014) ... And we really didn't hear it again until last year and mainly because of scheduling.
"It wasn't because we didn't have warm days, it's because we played that second Monday night game. And there's been a lot of discussion that we request that every year. We don't. We actually don't request primetime games to the NFL. The NFL dictates the schedule to every single team. We can request a couple of weekends off if there's something happening in the stadium. Every team in the league does that ... We never have requested primetime games because of weather, per say."
Guido says the 49ers have extensively researched the issue in hopes of finding a potential solution.
"It's not a simple solution," Guido tells fans. "I understand, if I were a fan, why I think it might be. I've sat down with every architect and every civil engineer and every person that you could ever imagine to talk through (solutions)."
One suggestion from fans has been to install built-in misters throughout Levi's Stadium. That's isn't a viable solution either. Guido points out that, unlike in Arizona, the area's humidity would create a safety issue with misters. While it might offer relief from the heat, fans could slip on the resulting wet concrete surfaces.
The 49ers have made some changes at Levi's Stadium to help fans combat the heat. Bottles of water, for example, have seen a price drop from $6 each to a more reasonable $2. The team also has free filtered water stations throughout the stadium.
"We can't add shade," Guido said. "It's just not possible, but there are a lot of things that we could do to make the experience more pleasurable."
You can listen to the entire interview with Guido below.
