49ers May Gamble On Move To Reno June 3 Vote Could Make Switch Just A Practice Move

The 49ers are starting to resemble a bouncing roulette ball in their pursuit of a long-term training camp answer. Today’s hot number:

Reno?

“We were just looking into it,” said team vice president Dwight Clark, who toured the University of Nevada on Thursday. “This was just a fact-finding visit, and there were enough positives there to at least take it to the next step.”

The 49ers are locked in for at least one more summer at Sierra College in Rocklin, where they have held training camp since 1981. But the team has grown unhappy with Sierra’s facilities and smoking summer temperatures, and has openly heard overtures from 15 to 20 cities that desire to host the camp.

Reno, however, is a unique and surprising proposition. Though the facilities, summer weather and local football interest are all top-drawer, Nevada’s gaming environment could present some interesting dilemmas for both the 49ers and the NFL.

“The casino atmosphere is not conducive to what we’re looking for,” said Clark, who nevertheless added that he would soon be sending training-camp staff to Reno for a further assessment of the site’s potential.

Clark said the 49ers have boiled their choices down to “three or four” training-camp sites they would consider for 1998 and beyond. Rocklin, Stockton and perhaps Monterey are in that group, and Reno is now gunning for the short list as well.

“From a purely football standpoint, you could not ask for a better place to condition athletes in,” Nevada athletic director Chris Ault said. “I don’t think (the gaming) is even an issue. When you look at California and the gaming that’s going on there … I mean, we all understand that gaming is all over the country.”

Of course, the entire process could take a major turn - presumably south - if the 49ers’ bid for new stadium funding is defeated at the polls June 3. Team owner Ed DeBartolo Jr. is calling Propositions D and F his last and best offer to the voters of San Francisco, and has indicated he could move the 49ers to Los Angeles or elsewhere as soon as 1998 if his proposal is defeated.

“If (the stadium) does lose and the L.A. thing does happen - and all of this is hypothetical - then I would think we would look down south for a training facility,” Clark said.

Ault said his university would have to build two additional practice fields if the 49ers came to train, but that all other logistical requirements were essentially in place. These include the 31,545-seat Mackay Stadium and its 60 luxury boxes.

“We have no humidity here; it’s a wet heat,” Ault said. “We’ve got a mild altitude: 4,600 (feet). We’ve got a huge following in football. Our airport is so accessible; it’s only eight miles from campus. We’ve got a sports medicine center and a weight room that’s second to none.

“And we’re a destination area. In Rocklin, you drive there, you watch practice, you go home. Here you’re going to watch practice and stay awhile.”

Rocklin officials, meanwhile, have put together a new package intended to keep the 49ers at Sierra beyond this summer. Sierra president Kevin Ramirez won’t go into specifics, but dormitory improvements and antidotes for the heat are part of the offering.