49ers Blog and Q&A

****UPDATE 10:30 a.m.**** The Merc's Tim Kawakami is reporting that the 49ers and Raiders will cease their annual preseason meeting. Kawakami writes that there may not be an announcement to that end but that the game won't appear on next year's exhibition schedule.

Jed York on Monday said there was increased security at Saturday's 49ers-Raiders game in which three people were attacked and that there will be better security for Saturday's game against the Texans, which also kicks off at 5 p.m.

Both York, the 49ers President, and Raiders CEO Amy Trask addressed security concerns in an interview this morning on KNBR. Trask made sure she highlighted the security measures already in place for Raiders games. York blamed Saturday's incidents on a "handful of people who ruin the experience for everyone else, and it's not going to be tolerated."

York on several occasions noted that the team was working with NFL security and with the San Francisco Police Department to improve security in and around Candlestick. That is likely to include better lighting in the parking lots around the stadium, although that might not be in place before Saturday's game, York said. "I don't know if you're going to be able to get up a bunch of light poles in four days before the next game," York said. "But you're going to have a lot of security out there. You're going to have a lot of SFPD. We're going to work with them to make sure we have the appropriate levels of security to make sure all our fans feel safe and comfortable."

Both rejected the notion that there are endemic issues with the fan experience at NFL games, including the amount of alcohol consumption that occurs before games. Instead York suggested that a different type of crowd attended Saturday's game than the one that normally shows up at Candlestick. "I think when you have a preseason game, when you don't have your regular-season ticket holders coming to the game, I think that plays a big factor into it," York said. He said that's another reason why the NFL wants to eliminate some preseason games in favor of 18 regular-season games.

Asked whether the 49ers and Raiders should stop meeting in the preseason, both York and Trask hedged: "Amy and I are going to work together and obviously make sure incidents like this don't happen," York said. "And we're going to talk and figure out the right way to have the right rivalry between the Niners and Raiders."

Said Trask: "We have a tremendous, tremendous working relationship with the 49ers. And I will assure you of this: We will have discussions. They will be collaborative. They will be cooperative, congenial. And we will make the decision together as to what's best for the franchises."

The two franchises have discussed sharing the 68,000-seat stadium the 49ers want to build in Santa Clara, although there are no plans to do so at this time.

-- Matt Barrows