Fans of the annual Battle of the Bay will have to turn their attention to baseball, according to a report.
Tim Kawakami of the San Jose Mercury News reports that a high-ranking NFL source says the annual preseason match up between the San Francisco 49ers and the Oakland Raiders will certainly come to an end.
The decision comes in response to violence that broke out after Saturday's game between the two teams at Candlestick Park that left several people injured.
Jed York said Monday afternoon that the 49ers believe it should be recommended to the NFL that a game between the two teams be postponed for "at least some time."
"The degenerate behavior that happened on Saturday is not going to be tolerated," York said. "We are not going to allow that type of behavior at our football games."
NFL PR executive Greg Aiello said the decision to cancel the game would be for the teams to make.
The NFL source told Kawakami that both the league and local law enforcement support ending the annual meeting between the two teams.
Saturday's match up was especially rowdy even before the parking lot and bathroom violence took place.
San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee said there were 70 ejections and 80 calls for medical service during the game. Typically he said there are about seven to 10. There were also 10 ambulance runs in comparison to the usual one to two. Officials also said that attendance was a third less than a regular season game and that there was 40-percent more officers on duty.
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Also on Monday, team officials said that they will crack down on tailgating. Tailgating will only be permitted before games. Anyone still in the parking lot once a game has started will be asked to either enter the stadium or leave the parking lot.
Jim Mercurio, the vice president of stadium security at Candlestick Park, said in 19 years on the job he had never had to deal with the amount of bad behavior he experienced Saturday.
For this coming weekend's 49ers home game, there will be more patrols on bike, foot and motorcycles in the parking lots and lights will be brighter.
Still, an announcement on canceling future meetings between the teams may not be made public, according to the source. Next season's match scheduled to be played in Oakland may just disappear from the schedule instead.
The two teams play each other every preseason partially to save travel costs and to generate local interest in often poorly attended preseason games.
