Neither the New England Patriots nor the Seattle Seahawks plan to utilize the San Francisco 49ers’ practice grounds before Super Bowl LX in Santa Clara. This decision could be beneficial, especially if concerns about potential injury risks from a nearby electrical substation hold any weight.
In a repeat of what transpired a decade ago when Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara hosted its inaugural Super Bowl, the AFC and NFC champions will once again conduct their practice sessions at Stanford and San Jose State universities, respectively.
Similar to Super Bowl 50, the NFL had pre-arranged these practice locations for the Patriots and Seahawks well ahead of time, as confirmed by a spokesperson for New England to the Daily Mail.
Thus, the choice to train away from Santa Clara, where the injury-prone 49ers operate, wasn’t influenced by any theories surrounding the adjacent electrical substation.
These speculations stem from the numerous health issues the team has faced over the past decade. In the year 2025 alone, the 49ers suffered an astounding $95 million loss in salary cap due to player injuries, surpassing any other NFL team.
Researcher Peter Cowan, an expert in quantum biology, suggests that San Francisco’s injury troubles might be linked to continuous exposure to ‘low-frequency electromagnetic fields’ emanating from the electrical substation positioned next to their stadium and training facilities.
The theory claims San Francisco’s injury problems are the result of the nearby substation
An electrical substation can be seen on the left side of this photo abutting the 49ers’ facility
After Cowan’s theory recently went viral on X, George Kittle’s season-ending Achilles tear in San Francisco’s recent playoff win over the Philadelphia Eagles reignited those concerns.
Since then, 49ers GM John Lynch has revealed the team is investigation the potential connection.
‘Because it deals with, allegedly, the health and safety of our players, you have to look into everything,’ Lynch said about the theory in a press conference with head coach Kyle Shanahan.
‘Our guys have been, we’ve been reaching out to anyone and everyone to see if a study does exist.
‘We will look into it, we have.’
Former San Francisco tight end Delanie Walker claimed earlier this month there were concerns over the substation during his tenure with the team from 2006 to 2012.
‘That’s been an issue since I’ve been there – they talked about moving that electrical substation because when I was there,’ he told the Bussin’ With The Boys podcast.
‘It was said that it was giving people cancer… so then they pushed it back a little bit and just took some of it away.’
‘You can even feel it sometimes – I don’t know what it is – you can feel the energy. And then a transformer exploded one day we were at practice.
‘That s*** sounded like a f***ing bomb went off. I was like: ‘This is dangerous’ but they’re not going to move it.’
As was the case in 2016, the NFC champs will prepare for the Super Bowl at San Jose State
The Patriots will be practicing in Palo Alto, where they’ll have access to Stanford’s facilities
Walker also claimed trees and other wildlife struggles to exist in the area: ‘Everything dies where the power station is.’
The retired tight end, 41, claimed that research was done into the possible impact of the site but that players were given guarantees that the practice facility is safe.
‘They would start telling us: this may cause cancer, this is a study they’re doing. They had doctors coming up there,’ he said.
‘We may have signed something, I’m going to be honest,’ Walker continued. ‘I heard they were like: ‘Oh it may make your ligaments weak’ and I’m like: ‘God Damn, that’s crazy.’ And then when I saw the picture I thought: We practiced right there too. that’s the craziest s*** ever.’
