Many of the 68,000 "seasoned fans who attended the first 49ers game" at Levi's Stadium are "shining a bright light on an issue that many Niner faithful were unprepared for Sunday: the heat," according to Mike Rosenberg of the SAN JOSE MERCURY NEWS. It is "no secret Santa Clara is hotter than San Francisco, but the 49ers have also traded in the bayside fog and breezes that often cooled down Candlestick Park for the beaming Santa Clara Valley sun that glistens off the new stadium's gleaming glass suite tower." Huge crowds "abandoned the sunny seats for shady concourses" after they "wound up with over-heated cellphones, sweat-drenched jerseys" and sunburn. 49ers fan Gabe Hernandez said, "I came home super sun burnt. Me and my friend only lasted one quarter until she tapped out to get out of the beaming sun. I miss the 'Stick." Rosenberg notes the stands at Levi's Stadium were "half-empty by halftime and almost completely vacant by the end of the game, while fans in red-and-gold jerseys packed the covered concourses and air-conditioned clubs and stood in long lines for ice cream." Though the temperature was just above 80 degrees, it felt "several degrees hotter in the crowded stands." A fan who was "sitting in the sun-baked part of the stadium behind the visitors' sideline" collapsed and suffered a cardiac emergency, but it is "unclear if the heat contributed to his death." Team execs met yesterday to "assess the operations" from the stadium's first football game and are "reviewing whether to make changes to help heat-stricken fans but have not nailed down any specifics yet" (SAN JOSE MERCURY NEWS, 8/19).
