Yes, the 49ers will bid farewell to Candlestick Park on Monday night. (It has provided a great marketing gimmick for ESPN, given that the Falcons are the opponent.)
On Friday, the 49ers issued a media release proclaiming that the 49ers will host the Falcons in the “last regular-season game ever” at the iconic but woefully outdated venue.
It will be a celebration, to be sure. Eddie DeBartolo will serve as the honorary captain. Former 49ers receiver Dwight Clark will commemorate “The Catch,” judged the No. 1 moment in Candlestick history. All gates and parking lots will open an hour early.
While there’s a chance -- albeit very slim -- that the 49ers will host a postseason game at Candlestick Park, Monday night’s game will be, for all practical purposes, the last game ever played there. Which means that things could get a little out of hand.
The team already has announced that seats from Candlestick Park can be purchased. There’s a pretty good chance that plenty of fans will try to physically remove plenty of seats at the last game.
There’s also a pretty good chance that the place also could be otherwise trashed, to the point where it would be a Herculean effort to get the ‘Stick ready for one last playoff game, such as an unprecedented contest between the No. 5 seed and the No. 6 seed.