Sunday’s 49ers-Chiefs Super Bowl will be the first one ever played in Sin City, and the 49ers team brass is going to great lengths to make sure the players keep their noses clean amidst the Las Vegas nightlife and gambling scene.
It is now officially Super Bowl week, people! And as your San Francisco 49ers head to Las Vegas pursue their sixth Super Bowl title, it is instructive that we look back at their fourth Super Bowl title in 1989. Longtime Niners fans will remember that game for it’s game-winning 92-yard Joe Montana drive in the final three minutes of the game. But that game’s vanquished Cincinnati Bengals fans will remember it for their star running back Stanley Wilson’s cocaine binge that led to his disappearing from the team. Oakland Raiders center Barret Robbins had a similar incident at the 2003 Super Bowl.
And given that this is the first Super Bowl ever being played in Las Vegas, the temptations available to the players are exponentially larger. That is why the Chronicle reports that the 49ers coaches have strict curfews and discipline rules to keep the players' noses clean this week.
The obvious temptation is gambling. But the NFL is stressing their league rule, that applies to both Super Bowl teams, that there is no gambling allowed when traveling with their team.
“When on business there is no gambling, whether it be sports gambling or otherwise,” NFL executive vice president of communications Jeff Miller said in a media call last week. “And any player, coach, personnel, yours truly, who would be caught or identified gambling in a casino would be eligible for the disciplinary process.”
The Chron notes that the 49ers are not even staying in Las Vegas, they’re staying at hotels in nearby Henderson, about 16 miles south of Las Vegas. (Though honestly… do any hotels in Nevada not have a casino?)
There is also the matter of, errrm, sex work. Though yes prostitution is legal in some Nevada counties, it is not legal in Clark County, which is where Las Vegas and Henderson are both located.
But the 49ers are ramping the discipline up by not even allowing players’ significant others to stay in their hotel rooms. That’s a rule that actually applies all season.
And in case you’re wondering, the 49ers curfew is 10:30 pm during their las Vegas stay this week.
Image: David Vives via Unsplash
