Some concerns were raised about whether or not the Arizona Cardinals and San Francisco 49ers would be able to play their season opener Sunday afternoon. In northern California, there are serious air quality issues because of smoke from wildfires.
If the air quality index (AQI) is going to be above 200, the game can’t happen.
Some forecasts had the AQI expected to be above that for Sunday.
However, it appears all will be fine and the game will go on as scheduled.
ESPN’s Adam Schefter tweeted this Sunday morning.
Despite major air quality concerns in the Bay Area, the game between the 49ers and Cardinals remains on at its scheduled time for today, per sources. Air quality index needs to be at or above 200 for NFL to shift game; it’s currently at about 170.
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) September 13, 2020
ESPN’s Josh Weimfuss added this.
Cardinals-49ers to play. AQI is 171 right now, according to the EPA. The forecast is for it be 199 but it doesn’t look like it’ll get there. https://t.co/m0NFYeCaa3
— Josh Weinfuss (@joshweinfuss) September 13, 2020
The NFL would have to reschedule the game if there was evidence that the AQI would be over 200 for a good portion of the game.
It does not appear that will happen, so the game will go on.
Kickoff will be at 1:25 p.m. Arizona time at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara.
[vertical-gallery id=443597]
Listen to the latest from Cards Wire’s Jess Root on his podcast, Rise Up, See Red. Subscribe on Apple podcasts or Spotify.
Latest show:
Previous shows:
[protected-iframe id=”b982993d8c20b3c1204a481770f7fbae-112738498-106269283″ info=”https://api.spreaker.com/v2/episodes/29016811/download.mp3″ ]
and
[protected-iframe id=”682ebb6e7ef6b83ea73b8875d2f5241d-112738498-106269283″ info=”https://api.spreaker.com/v2/episodes/27243565/download.mp3″ ]