49ers' Jed York reveals what he's willing to spend to win NFL games
49ers' York reveals what he's willing to spend to win games originally appeared on NBC Sports Bayarea
PHOENIX — CEO and owner Jed York will spare no expense to give the 49ers the best possible chance to win games.
For the past several seasons, the 49ers have spent time between back-to-back East Coast games at different facilities in the Eastern time zone to help players recuperate and stay adjusted to the time difference.
This is not an inexpensive endeavor.
“I don’t know that staying in the same place every year is ideal,” York said at the NFL Annual Meeting. “But if you have to spend a million dollars to stay somewhere but that takes 10 hours of travel out, and that takes inflammation out for guys, and it gives you a better chance to win a game, I will spend a million dollars any time to win a game.”
For the past three seasons the 49ers stayed at the Greenbriar resort in West Virginia between East Coast road games. Bradenton, Florida and the York’s hometown of Youngstown, Ohio also have been training stopovers for San Francisco in years past.
The 49ers also spent a week in Colorado Springs, Colo. to adjust to playing in high altitude prior to traveling to Mexico City for their matchup with the Arizona Cardinals in Week 11 of the 2022 season. They returned home with a resounding divisional win.
This is nothing to new to York, whose uncle Eddie DeBartolo, was a groundbreaker when it came to making accommodations for his players throughout the season. Prior to the Hall-of-Fame owner, no team had regularly arrived the day prior to their road games.
DeBartolo saw how much more rested his players were throughout a contest after spending the night before in a hotel with proper sleep, as opposed to flying in the morning of. Now, arriving the day before a contest is common practice across the NFL.
York and the 49ers received mostly favorable grades from the NFLPA report cards submitted by 1300 players across the league, likely taking these expensive stays into consideration. One of the opportunities that the report showed, however, was with San Francisco's training room, which many players said could be more spacious.
“I feel like we treat our players with respect,” York said in response to the report card. “We can always do a better job. That started with my uncle. He always wanted to make sure that his players had everything they need.”
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The 49ers are set to have several road games in the Eastern time zone again during the 2023 season, with games slated against the Philadelphia Eagles, Washington Commanders, Cleveland Browns, Pittsburgh Steelers and Jacksonville Jaguars, as well as a Central time zone game against the Minnesota Vikings. York inferred that they once again, he likely will find a facility to train at on the East Coast.
“I think [Hall of Fame Oakland Raiders owner] Al Davis had a quote about that,” York said. “I can’t remember exactly what it was but, if I can spend a million dollars to win every single game, I would do that every single day.”
