49ers to spend week at the Greenbrier between New York games

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The 49ers play consecutive games at MetLife Stadium in New York, against the Giants (Week Two) and the Jets (Week Three). In between the two games, they won’t fly back to California. Instead, they’ll spend the week in West Virginia.

Coach Kyle Shanahan told reporters on Wednesday that the 49ers will practice and stay at The Greenbrier between New York games.

“I think we’re going to stay at the Greenbrier in between for a week,” Shanahan said. “So I believe that has been approved. No one’s told me that we’re not doing it. So usually someone tells me if something bad has happened and no one has told me. So I’m counting on that to work out right now.”

The NFL previously had strongly urged teams to return home after road games, given the mini-bubble being created in each city. The 49ers essentially will have to create a separate bubble in West Virginia for a week.

In 2013, The Greenbrier created a football training facility for the Saints, who trained there for three summers. The Texans spent multiple camps there, too. The Cardinals also have stayed there between East Coast games.

The 49ers started the 2019 season with a pair of East Coast games, staying in Youngstown during the week between wins at Tampa Bay and then at Cincinnati. Shanahan told PFT after the Week Two win that there’s a “huge difference” between staying put and going back and forth.

“It hurts the team to be away from routine and family,” Shanahan said at the time. He also explained that, when traveling back and forth, “guys are dead no matter what we try to do.”

Later in the season, the 49ers stayed in Florida after a game at Baltimore preceding a contest at New Orleans.