Do you remember last week when a Santa Clara County executive officer, Dr. Jeffrey Smith, said that the return of sports to the area — including the San Francisco 49ers and San Jose Sharks — might not happen before Thanksgiving? The same official told ESPN this week that the decision will be made locally and not by President Trump or the NFL.

Smith stands by his timeline.

"It puts the entire country at risk," said Smith. "The fundamental thing is sports is not a local event. If you have people traveling from all over and you have no way of knowing whether they're infected or not -- I mean, 50,000 of them in a stadium is not a good idea."

Even moving forward without fans in the stadiums or arenas would require assurances that the coronavirus is contained and that the visiting opponents don't present a danger to the local community, says Smith.


"It would be pretty risky because of the very close contact among the athletes," said Smith. "You have to consider that everybody on the field is sharing sweat with everybody else, and that puts everybody at risk for being infected."

Smith states that any local decision will be made by the county public health officer, Dr. Sara Cody, who reports to Smith.

While Trump recently stated that he wants sports to return to the country by September, which could be in time for the scheduled start of the NFL's regular-season, Smith indicates that the President's timeline will not impact the local one, calling it "a bad mistake."

"Neither the federal government nor the state government have the legal authority to contravene the public health officers," added Smith, who is also a lawyer. "The law was set up very specifically to make the public health officers' decision an apolitical decision."

49ers president Al Guido indicated last week that the team's decision would be based on what is best for the health and well-being of the team and the local community.


"What I would say here is there's a ton of debate on the appropriate time for the return of sports," Guido said during a KNBR interview. "But not just for sports, but the return of any work, at this point. Our intent is let's exercise great patience. ... And we're going to make the most informed decision regarding our health and wellness."

Of course, there is always the possibility of playing outside Santa Clara County. But then you have to worry about the area's officials being concerned about an entire team and staff returning to the area after potential outside exposure. Then there is figuring out the logistics surrounding an entire team traveling and potentially staying in another location for extended periods of time — possibly for months.

The NFL this week stated that if just one NFL club is unable to begin in-person offseason programs due to state or local restrictions, then none of the 32 teams would be able to do so (per NFL Network). That could potentially delay the start of the regular season.

Guido added: "Our organization, we're going to continue to collaborate with government, state, and local health organizations, and also the league office, to see when we can return."
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