Jed York was on Chronicle Live this afternoon answering questions on everything from the ongoing labor negotiations to his team's Halloween day game overseas. Here are a couple of York's responses followed by my commentary.
On the possibility of Oakland being a "Plan B" should the stadium initiative in Santa Clara fail.
JY: I know Mr. Davis and Amy Trask have been working very hard on trying to get something done at the Coliseum site. From an infrastructure standpoint, it's a much better site than the location at Hunter's Point (In San Francisco). And from my standpoint, we need to find a place that all of our fans can get to. That's why we like Santa Clara so much - because the infrastructure's there, the freeways are there, the public transportation is there. And none of that really exists at Hunter's Point. So we need to find a spot in the Bay Area where our fans can easily access, and if it's not Santa Clara I think the Coliseum is a pretty good site.
Comment: York went on to say that the 49ers will continue to consider Hunter's Point as an option but that there are too many hurdles right now. The interest in Oakland obviously means the 49ers -- and presumably the Raiders -- would be interested in sharing an Oakland stadium. The question is whether the Raiders would be interested in sharing a stadium in Santa Clara should the June ballot measure pass. After all, the stadium site is roughly four miles from the Alameda County border.
On the toll a game in London will take on a West coast team.
JY: It's a tough trip, and hopefully we'll be able to have an east coast road game the week before and be able to cut that trip in half and have a six-hour flight to London as opposed to a 12-hour flight from San Francisco, which I think the San Diego Chargers did a few years ago.
Comment: The Chargers asked the league to give them an east-coast game before their London trip three years ago and were given a game in Buffalo. The 49ers' east coast games include Atlanta and Charlotte, N.C. The flight from Atlanta would be 8 hours, according to Orbitz. The flight from Charlotte would 7:45. Too bad the 49ers aren't playing the Patriots. The Boston-London flight is 6:21.
-- Matt Barrows
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