The San Francisco 49ers NHL football team got its name from the nickname ‘forty niners‘ given to the first wave of fortune seekers who flocked to Northern California in 1849 during the gold rush era.
The team retained San Francisco in its name despite moving some 32 miles outside the city in 2014 to a new home stadium, the Levi’s Stadium, in Santa Clara, a suburb of San Jose.
While headquartered and having training facilities in Santa Clara since 1988, the 49ers had previously always played in the city of San Francisco since its founding in 1946, first at Kezar Stadium, and later Candlestick Park.
