NFL

‘It's Like Being Outside a Club': 49ers Practice Still Too Noisy, Neighbors Say

The sound and the fury are back. The sound: blaring music from the San Francisco 49ers' practice. The fury: from people who live near Levi’s Stadium.

Dan Truong lives a half mile from the team’s practice facility, which is adjacent to Levi’s Stadium. Monday through Thursday for the past six weeks, he has woken up because of loud beats.

"I get awoken because I hear a booming bass coming from the walls, seeping through," said Truong, a software engineer who works late and sleeps late. "I’m losing hours of sleep and I’m slowly getting more and more tired, and less sharp."

He says despite the 49ers repositioning their speakers, the bass can still be disruptive depending on the song played.

Bob Lange, the 49ers' vice president of communications, told NBC Bay Area the organization has been working with sound engineers and the speaker manufacturers to correct the issues since they heard complaints about two weeks ago. Since then, they have moved speakers several times, lowered volumes and recalibrated bass levels, according to Lange.

NBC Bay Area checked in with another neighbor Antonino Vergel de Dios, who we spoke to during our initial report.

"I’ve noticed a difference -- it’s better," said Vergel del Dios, who recently installed double-paned windows. "But I still don’t open my windows when they are practicing."

We checked and found that volume levels had dropped approximately 5 to 10 decibels since our initial report. But for some neighbors it is the bass that is still unbearable.

"It’s like being outside a club," Truong said.

Santa Clara City Council member Kathy Watanabe says she came to the neighborhood on Mother’s Day after she saw more complaints on community social network, Nextdoor.

"As soon as I came around the corner, I felt the bass right in my chest," said Watanabe, who wants to meet with the 49ers general manager.

She says more fact-finding needs to be done to determine if the sound is amplified through wind or other sources.

The Niners say nothing has changed from previous years when it comes to practice.

New coach Chip Kelly, like many NFL coaches, is known to use high-energy music to mimic the chaos and volume of game day. Various media outlets, here and in Philadelphia, have commented on the "blaring music" at his practices. Website Niner’s Nation recently even wrote about the "team’s upgraded sound system."

There is some temporary relief in sight for bothered neighbors. Off-season practices end June 9.

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