The 49ers frequently start the regular season on the road, and an East Coast road trip would be a nice way to kick off 2025.
When the San Francisco 49ers moved into Levi's Stadium in 2014, fans (especially) and pundits noticed just how blazing-hot the eastern side of the stadium would get during day games, which didn't exactly bode well for any home-field advantage amid the late-summer heat that can impact Northern California.
As a result, the Niners have historically opened up the regular season on the road, which was the case in 2018, 2019, 2021, 2022 and 2023, frequently with back-to-back bouts away from home.
In 2024, despite it being a home game, San Francisco kicked off the regular season with a primetime Monday Night Football bout against the New York Jets, thereby avoiding said heat by getting into the cooler evening.
The 2025 schedule release will take place on Wednesday, May 14, and it's not yet known which team the 49ers face in Week 1 or where it'll be.
However, the schedule makers could do the Niners a solid if playing road games is going to part of the first two weeks of the season.
49ers should open up 2025 NFL schedule with 2 East Coast road games
San Francisco plays four teams in the Eastern Time Zone: the New York Giants, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, the Indianapolis Colts and the Cleveland Browns.
Of those four, the two longest trips (for you geography majors out there) would be against the Bucs and G-Men, but the 49ers have a history of staying back east if they're playing back-to-back East Coast road games.
it'd be nice for head coach Kyle Shanahan and Co. to get two of those games out of the way early.
Facing either Tampa Bay or New York in Week 1, followed by a Week 2 road trip to the other, would be preferred in so many ways. For starters, since 2025 is a year in which they have one more road game than at home, the Niners would cut down on the back-and-forth travel by staying back east, perhaps again using the Greenbrier Resort in West Virginia as the temporary stay-over.
Additionally, as fans wouldn't complain, daytime home games at Levi's Stadium in early September would be avoided, so there'd be no concerns over heat and direct sunlight for those poor souls with tickets on the eastern concourses.
We'll see if the NFL schedule makers oblige.