The 49ers head east Friday for a 10-day, two-game trip. An unfair journey? Actually, this is what the 49ers asked for when the league compiled its schedule.
“We’ve got two hard places to play on the road, and we don’t need to battle an extra 10 hours of travel time and battle time zones,” 49ers president and chief executive Jed York said. “It’s just a better way for us to prepare.”
Sandwiched between games Sunday at Cincinnati and Oct. 2 at Philadelphia is a five-day layover in Youngstown, Ohio, hometown of the DeBartolo family, which purchased the 49ers in 1977.
“The stars sort of aligned that, OK, we can do this in Youngstown, where my family can do whatever we need to make sure this is a first-class experience for the team,” added York, the oldest of team owners Denise DeBartolo York and John York’s four children.
Eliminating a round-trip flight and enhancing players’ body clocks are the primary goals, along with potential camaraderie that couldn’t be built in offseason workouts because of the labor lockout.
The 49ers (1-1) have five games in the Eastern time zone this season, and all are 10 a.m. (Pacific time) starts except for a Thanksgiving night affair in Baltimore. Since losing at Tampa Bay in their last playoff appearance nine seasons ago, the 49ers have lost 19 of 22 games in the Eastern time zone.
“Yeah, that’s one of the factors,” coach Jim Harbaugh said. “(We’re) trying to pull out all the stops, and I thought there were enough positives to it that it warranted doing it.”
York said he consulted with Harbaugh and general manager Trent Baalke as to whether this trip made sense from a football-operations standpoint before forwarding the unusual scheduling request to the league.
The last time the 49ers had back-to-back games in the Eastern time zone: also at Cincinnati and Philadelphia, in December 2003, when they lost to the Bengals 41-38 before beating the Eagles 31-28 in overtime.
“We’re always at a disadvantage when we’re going to the East Coast and playing a 10 a.m. body-clock game,” York said.
An extended East Coast stay did not help the 2008 Arizona Cardinals, who bunkered in Virginia between Weeks 3 and 4 games at the Washington Redskins and New York Jets. The Cardinals lost both games, capping the trip by falling behind 34-0 in a 56-35 defeat to Brett Favre’s Jets.
The 49ers hope to instead follow the lead of the New England Patriots, who twice in 2008 spent a week practicing at San Jose State in between West Coast games. The Patriots won at San Francisco and lost at San Diego in an October journey, then swept games at Seattle and Oakland in December. In 2005, the Dallas Cowboys stayed in Fremont between Weeks 3 and 4 games at San Francisco (Cowboys win) and Oakland (Cowboys loss).
“This will be an adjustment, but I think it will be good, kind of like a little minicamp,” quarterback Alex Smith said. “Guys will get to spend a lot of time together and focus on football.”
Added linebacker Patrick Willis: “It’ll be good for our team. Anytime you’ve got to make long travels, it’s hard on the body.”
The 49ers will prepare for the second leg of their trip in Youngstown, a former steel town located midway between Cleveland and Pittsburgh. Denise DeBartolo York and John York have maintained a primary residence in that area during their 49ers stewardship.
Youngstown is also where Edward J. DeBartolo Sr. launched his empire as a shopping-mall developer and entrepreneur. He bought the 49ers in 1977 and turned the reins over to his son, Eddie DeBartolo, who oversaw the franchise’s run to five Super Bowl titles.
Denise DeBartolo York assumed control in 1999, a result of her brother’s legal issues. (Their father died five years earlier.)
The 49ers will stay next week at a hotel DeBartolo Sr. built in the Youngstown suburb of Boardman. They will practice at Youngstown State University, where the DeBartolo-York family was inducted into the Athletics Hall of Fame in 2004 for their philanthropic contributions.
“I hope they enjoy their stay here and come back and stay another time,” said Youngstown Mayor Chuck Sammarone, a former YSU lineman who also is in its Hall of Fame. “I hope the practices are open to the public, because that would be nice for the community to be able to watch them practice.”
Nope, the 49ers will not alter their routine and open the practices, although they might invite special guests, such as high school coaches.
“Youngstown is a unique place. It’s obviously where my family is from, so there are a lot of strong roots there,” Jed York said. “Giving guys an opportunity to see where my family is from, I think that will be cool.”
Atop the 49ers’ agenda next week, aside from obvious football-related analysis and planning, are tentative visits Monday to a children’s hospital and Boys & Girls Club. There’ll be a team banquet Tuesday at a favorite restaurant of the DeBartolos and Yorks.
“As long as you feed us and we play football, we’re good,” wide receiver Joshua Morgan said.
And as long as they play good football, nothing else really matters.
For more on the 49ers, see Cam Inman’s Hot Read blog at blogs.mercurynews.com/49ers.
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