Neither the New England Patriots nor the Seattle Seahawks will use the San Francisco 49ers’ practice facility ahead of Super Bowl LX in Santa Clara, which might prove advantageous if injury concerns linked to a nearby electrical substation hold any validity.
Just as the NFL did a decade earlier when Santa Clara’s Levi’s Stadium hosted its first Super Bowl, the AFC and and NFC champions will once again practice on the Stanford and San Jose State campuses, respectively.
And, as was the case with Super Bowl 50, the NFL made these arrangements for the Patriots and Seahawks well in advance, a New England spokesperson told the Daily Mail.
So the decision to practice away from Santa Clara, where the injury-ravaged 49ers train, was not made in response to conspiracy theories about the electrical substation abutting the team facility.
The theory is grounded in the litany of health concerns the team has faced over the last decade or so. In 2025 alone, the Niners lost a staggering $95million in salary cap value to injuries – more than any other NFL team.
And according to researcher Peter Cowan, a board-certified quantum biology practitioner, San Francisco’s injury issues may be the result of chronic exposure to ‘low-frequency electromagnetic fields’ from the electrical substation located right next to their stadium and practice facility.
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 investigating 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.’
