When the 49ers open their first off-season mini camp in Santa Clara Friday, they'll be dealing with more than calisthenics drills and a new playbook.
They'll be dealing with the place getting ripped up for construction.
John Crumpacker gives us the rundown in today's SF Chronicle of the revamping of 49ers headquarters at 4949 Centennial Boulevard in Santa Clara. The team is adding 9,000 square feet of additional training areas and office space.
Thousands of square feet of new office space? Check it out Bay Area unemployed, maybe they're hiring!
The new weight room component is already in use, and there are pictures and everything. Additional amenities include an in-house kitchen and a players' lounge. Doesn't say whether that includes an open bar.
The point of all this modernizing and pampering business is to make players want to participate more in the off-season conditioning programs, and to make San Francisco a more attractive destination for visiting free agents.
Can we have Kurt Warner come visit as a free agent again once the place is finished in November?
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This is in addition to the infamous 2,500 ton "dirt hill" that Coach Mike Singletary also had installed this off-season. These are the ways that teams help players adapt to and take advantage of the current year-long season, or lack of a real off-season. "The facility has become a year-round facility. Back in the day, it served the team for six months," says Keena Turner, whom it's nice to see is still around with the team.
Once this baby is finished, the Niners reckon more guys will want to stick around with this team.
Joe Kukura is a freelance writer whose first question is always whether there's an open bar.
