Mobile Tickets, Parking Passes Required at 49ers Preseason Opener Against Chiefs
SANTA CLARA (CBS SF) -- Football returns to the Bay Area this weekend with the 49ers kicking off the preseason with their home opener at Levi's Stadium Saturday against the Kansas City Chiefs.
Last year, the NFL decided to completely cancel all preseason games due to the pandemic. The team was also unable to play its final three home games at Levi's Stadium last season in December and January because of a Santa Clara County COVID-19 health order that banned contact sports, prompting the team to play the games in Arizona.
Saturday's game will mark the first preseason game 49ers fans can attend since 2019.
There will some changes at Levi's Stadium fans attending the game will need to know about. Starting with Saturday's game, only mobile tickets downloaded to the ticket holders phone will be accepted for entry.
Fans need to have the latest version of the 49ers app on their mobile devices and download tickets on their phone to get into Levi's Stadium. Parking passes have also gone mobile and will need to be downloaded onto phones to be used when entering the stadium parking lot.
Parking lots at the stadium will open at 2 p.m.
Levi's Stadium is also a cashless venue that only accepts cards or mobile payments for concessions, merchandise or other purchases.
Levi's Stadium is hosting fans at full capacity for home games in Santa Clara this season, starting with Saturday's 5:30 p.m. preseason opener.
Attendees will not be required to be vaccinated or show proof of a negative COVID test to go to a game.
Once inside Levi's, COVID protocols require that fans wear masks at all indoors spaces including the team store, the 49ers museum or inside luxury suites. When outside, fans are not required to wear a mask.
Full details on COVID safety protocols at Levi's Stadium are available on the 49ers website.
The game will also be the first chance fans have to see first-round draft pick rookie quarterback Trey Lance in action, though head coach Kyle Shanahan on Thursday said Jimmy Garoppolo
"[QB] Jimmy [Garoppolo] will start out. I mean with most of our starters, I know there's a number of guys that aren't playing to be safe with and some guys who've been banged up. We're trying to get most of our starters going, Jimmy will be hopefully just one series and then I'll get Trey in there," said Shanahan. "I think Trey's going to make the team so he doesn't have to go and freak out about that. He knows eyes will be on him. Sometimes these guys want to go out there and make some plays and show everyone what to be excited about. I tell them it's just like practice, except they can hit you. So just calm down and do your job like you try to do out here every day, because that's what quarterback is going to be every single day of your life until you're done playing."
The Valley Transportation Agency is offering direct bus service in lieu of light rail service for Saturday's 49ers pre-season game against the Kansas City Chiefs.
The bus service will pick up fans at the Milpitas BART station and Mountain View Caltrain station and drop them off at the stadium. Additional information is available on the VTA website.
"They can take Caltrain. They can take BART. We will have direct buses going directly and non-stop to Levi's Stadium," said VTA Spokesperson Brandi Childress.
The VTA suspended light rail service in the aftermath of the mass shooting at their railyard on May 26 in which nine employees were killed.
