The 49ers’ Viral Substation Theory Inspired Us to Find the Strangest Thing Near Every NFL Stadium

The 49ers are once again going through it on the injury front.

Between George Kittle’s Achilles rehab, Ricky Pearsall’s season-ending knee surgery, Mike Evans dealing with a quad strain and Christian McCaffrey recently missing practice due to “general tightness,” San Francisco’s offense around quarterback Brock Purdy is far from healthy—and it remains to be seen if Deebo Samuel Jr., who signed back with the club late last month, can provide the same spark he one did.

Additionally, on the defensive side of the ball, Nick Bosa is managing tendinitis after tearing his ACL last season, while safety Malik Mustapha (hamstring) and edge rusher Keion White (adductor) are among the laundry list of players currently sidelined in The Bay.

It all brings us back to the viral substation theory that took off last season.

CMC, Brock Purdy, and the electrical substation 😄 pic.twitter.com/5d6Yvhrc8b
— Sports Illustrated (@SInow) August 6, 2026

Back in 2025, when the 49ers were first dealing with a plethora of injuries, fans across social media began linking the team’s various ailments to an electrical substation that sits next to the team’s facilities in Santa Clara, Calif. It was suggested that the electromagnetic fields (EMFs) the substation puts off can actually weaken muscle tissue, and were the reason San Francisco struggled to stay healthy.

Eventually, enough was made of the theory that the club actually hired an independent scientist to study whether there was a connection between these injuries and the EMFs. General manager John Lynch called the findings “a big nothing burger,” while explaining that the levels were “400 times less than unsafe zones.

With injuries once again to pile up in 2026, the theory is back—with a parody account on X pointing out every 49ers player who gets dinged up to boot.

Rather than reopening the proverbial can of worms to try to figure out whether these EMFs are truly causing these injuries, we’ve decided to take this story in a different direction. It’s no secret that stadiums aren’t made, funded or designed equally. Some sit in the heart of the city, others in the suburbs, and they all have some interesting neighbors.

With that, here’s a look at the strangest and most interesting things within the vicinity of every NFL stadium.

Arizona Cardinals (State Farm Stadium): Andretti Indoor Karting

Shoutout to Mario Andretti. After winning four IndyCar championships over the course of his career, the longtime race car driver now owns Andretti Indoor Karting & Games. The westernmost of the 14 nationwide locations sits just across the street from where the Cardinals play their home games, and in between a Dick’s Sporting Goods and a Topgolf.

Atlanta Falcons (Mercedes-Benz Stadium): A Chick-fil-A that isn’t open on most game days

The strangest phenomenon near Mercedes-Benz Stadium actually sits inside the facility’s walls: A Chick-fil-A. On the surface, this isn’t that crazy, as several stadiums across the country include fast food restaurants. But given that it’s primarily an NFL stadium—and Chick-fil-A is famously closed on Sundays—this doesn’t exactly seem like the best business model, even if the venue still hosts other events and the occasional non-Sunday football game.

Baltimore Ravens (M&T Bank Stadium): A refrigerator warehouse

United Refrigeration, Inc., according to its LinkedIn page, is one of the largest distributors of refrigeration, air conditioning and heating parts and equipment in North America. While the company was founded in Philadelphia in 1947, one of its many warehouses sits within a block of the Ravens’ M&T Bank Stadium.

Buffalo Bills (Highmark Stadium): The Sheldon Family Cemetery

When the Bills moved across the street earlier this year, they parted ways with one of the quirkiest features in football: having a cemetery in their stadium parking lot. That’s right, the Sheldon Family Cemetery sat just outside Gate 7 of the old Highmark Stadium, meaning it still remains in sight of the new one. 20 people were buried there in the 1800s, and the resting place is still maintained by Gary Hartloff, the great-great-grandson of Joseph Sheldon—who was reportedly “one of the first settlers to live in what is now the town of Orchard Park.”

Carolina Panthers (Bank of America Stadium): ANOTHER substation

Panthers Stadium. — Yup, that’s right. Another substation. | Photo via Apple Maps

Yup. Another substation. This one is directly next to Bank of America Stadium and just across the street from the Panthers’ practice fields.

Chicago Bears (Soldier Field): A luxury yacht club and marina

Chicago is considered a tough city. Between its freezing cold winters, summers that see locals tanning on a cement beach and its overall blue-collar culture, Illinois’s largest city has undoubtedly earned its reputation. That’s why it’s a tad odd that right next door to the Bears’ football stadium is Northerly Island—and between it is a luxury yacht club and marina. Boujee.

Cincinnati Bengals (Paycor Stadium): A main road between it and the team’s practice fields

There were slim pickings for anything strange around Paycor Stadium. The result? The fact that the Bengals’ practice fields sit across a main road from their facilities, which in turn forces the players to cross the street before and after every session (even if the team doesn’t want you to know it).

Cleveland Browns (Huntington Bank Field): A lighthouse that freezes over in the winter

Lake Eerie lighthouse. — A lighthouse that sits inside Lake Eerie can freeze over in the winter. | Photo via Apple Maps

We stay in Ohio for this one, where we find Huntington Bank Field, home of the Browns, nestled right on Lake Erie. Just off the coast is where you’ll find a lighthouse that occasionally freezes over completely thanks to the brutal Cleveland winters.

Dallas Cowboys (AT&T Stadium): Sky Mirror

What is it with this place and glares? Not only does Jerry Jones refuse to put up curtains at AT&T Stadium—which admittedly allows for some sweet field-level photos—but there’s also a GIANT mirror outside the east end zone. Called Sky Mirror, this 35-foot-diameter sculpture was created by artist Anish Kapoor and weighs a whopping 15(!) tons.

Denver Broncos (Empower Field at Mile High): Elitch Gardens Theme Park

Bored at a Broncos game? Don’t fret, just simply cross I-25 and find yourself at Elitch Gardens, where you can ride Shipwreck Falls, Twister III: Storm Chaser and Meow Wolf’s Kaleidoscape.

Detroit Lions (Ford Field): A statue of a fist

Joe Louis fist. — The Monument to Joe Louis is close to Detroit’s Ford Field. | Photo via Apple Maps

The Monument to Joe Louis, aka The Fist, was sculpted by the late Robert Graham in the 1980s and given to the Detroit Institute of Arts by none other than Sports Illustrated in ’86. The sculpture itself is dedicated to Louis, who moved to Detroit as a teenager before becoming a legendary boxer and one of the city’s greatest icons.

Green Bay Packers (Lambeau Field): An entire suburban neighborhood

Given that the Packers play in suburban Wisconsin, Lambeau Field is simply surrounded by a neighborhood. If you know anyone who lives around the stadium, hit me up (michael.kadlick@si.com), I’d love to interview them.

Houston Texans (Reliant Stadium): The Astrodome

It’s not all that strange that Houston’s Reliant Stadium was built next to the old Astrodome. The catch, however, is the latter’s innate ability to not be messed with. Built in the mid-1960s as the first multipurpose domed stadium in the world, the Astrodome was listed as a State Antiques Landmark by Texas in 2017. Said honor carries with it the requirement of state approval to be modified, a process that has been voted down several times despite the facility being largely unused since 2008.

Indianapolis Colts (Lucas Oil Stadium): Toy Bricks sculpture

Lucas Oil Stadium serves as the center of the football world every February when it plays host to the NFL scouting combine. Close by, just across Indianapolis’s White River, lives the Toy Bricks sculpture. The artwork was created as part of the Indy Art & Seek project in 2019–20 using preexisting concrete to resemble three Lego blocks.

Jacksonville Jaguars (EverBank Stadium): A jaguar statue that a kid once got stuck in

Touchdown statue. — The jaguar statue, called "Touchdown", outside EverBank Stadium once had a kid get stuck in its mouth. | USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect

Sitting outside Jacksonville’s EverBank Stadium is a statue of a jaguar named Touchdown. Nothing too crazy here at face value, though it did have to have a tooth removed back in 1997 when nine-year-old Andy Wilkinson got his head stuck in its mouth.

Kansas City Chiefs (Arrowhead Stadium): A multimillion-dollar indoor pickleball facility

Pickleball has become all the rage for folks to stay in shape in their later years, and Kansas Citians can play plenty of it thanks to the $6.5 million(!) indoor facility that was recently built across the way from Arrowhead Stadium.

Las Vegas Raiders (Allegiant Stadium): The Pinball Hall of Fame

Sin City? More like Pin City. While the Raiders’ home field—Allegiant Stadium—sits just off the Las Vegas Strip, it’s not the dozens of casinos or resident shows that stand out. Instead, it’s the Pinball Hall of Fame, a nonprofit museum founded in 2006 that features roughly 700 pinball machines and various other arcade games.

Los Angeles Chargers/Rams (SoFi Stadium): A man-made lake named after Philip Rivers

Rivers Lake. — Rivers Lake was put in during the construction of SoFi Stadium. | Photo via Apple Maps

Built into Inglewood, Calif.’s plans for SoFi Stadium—which officially opened in 2020—was the construction of an artificial body of water. The man-made lake is 15 feet deep, holds 11 million gallons of water and is used for rainwater harvesting. The best part? Though it was never given an official name, members of the Chargers subreddit started a movement to name the lake after longtime franchise quarterback Philip Rivers. Hence, Rivers Lake was born.

Miami Dolphins (Hard Rock Stadium): An F1 racetrack and 25-plus temporary tennis courts

The land around Hard Rock Stadium serves as quite the venue for things other than football. Not only is the facility itself home to the Dolphins, but the property has also hosted the Miami Grand Prix since 2022 and the Miami Open tennis tournament since ’19.

Minnesota Vikings (U.S. Bank Stadium): House of Balls

Found less than a mile away from the Vikings’ house of football is the House of Balls, an art gallery created by Allen Christian. A local sculptor, Christian calls the collection an “open window to his life.” I wonder if he’s on board with Kyler Murray winning the starting QB job.

New England Patriots (Gillette Stadium): A cranberry bog

Sitting nearly 30 miles outside the city of Boston, Gillette Stadium is surrounded by the suburban neighborhoods of Foxborough. And while the Patriots have done their part to surround the facility with a state-of-the-art shopping mall, it doesn’t hide the fact that a cranberry bog sits just behind the Bass Pro Shops off Route 1.

New Orleans Saints (Caesars Superdome): John Julian McKeithen statue

Despite one not yet being erected for franchise legend Drew Brees, multiple statues fill the area outside of the Caesars Superdome. One, called Rebirth, depicts Steve Gleason’s famous blocked punt in the team’s first game back in the stadium after Hurricane Katrina, while another honors longtime team owner Tom Benson. Perhaps the strangest, though, is the statue of former Louisiana governor John Julian McKeithen, who has no direct ties to the Saints outside of being in office when the franchise was founded in 1966.

New York Giants/Jets (MetLife Stadium): A Ferris wheel

Why play football in New York when you can play it in New Jersey? East Rutherford’s MetLife Stadium is situated on the Meadowlands Sports Complex, conveniently in between the Meadowlands Racetrack and the American Dream Shopping Mall—which features the Dream Wheel NJ Ferris wheel.

Philadelphia Eagles (Lincoln Financial Stadium): The haunted Fort Mifflin

We had to expand our horizons a bit for this one since Lincoln Financial Field is largely surrounded by the rest of the Philadelphia Sports Complex. But just down the road, along the Delaware River, you’ll find Fort Mifflin—a Revolutionary War–era fort that’s widely regarded as one of the most haunted sites in the country.

Pittsburgh Steelers (Acrisure Stadium): Mister Rogers statue

It’s always a beautiful day in the neighborhood of Acrisure Stadium, and there’s something innately funny about tens of thousands of rowdy Steelers fans screaming their heads off while a statue of Mister Fred Rogers, the Pennsylvania native whose famous children’s show ran for more than 30 years, sits peacefully outside.

Seattle Seahawks (Lumen Field): An underground tour of the city

The Great Seattle Fire of 1889 destroyed its entire business district and caused the city to essentially be reconstructed several stories higher. In turn, there is now a network of underground passageways that can be toured, with one entryway being in the area of Lumen Field.

Tampa Bay Buccaneers (Raymond James Stadium): Bail bond service

Got arrested at the Buccaneers game? Just make your way across the street to get your bail situated at Roche Surety & Casualty Company, Inc.

Tennessee Titans (Nissan Stadium): Ghost Ballet for the East Bank Machineworks

The Ghost Ballet sculpture sits just outside of Acrisure Stadium. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

Nashville is among the country’s up-and-coming cities, and with that, the area in and around Nissan Stadium is both modern and unbecoming. That said, the Ghost Ballet for the East Bank Machineworks sculpture sits just outside the facility along the Cumberland River. This public art installation is 100 feet tall, 100 feet wide, 60 feet deep, and, despite being motionless, seeks to achieve “static animation” with its ability to be observed from different vantage points.

Washington Commanders (Northwest Stadium): A middle school

The Commanders are in the middle of constructing a new stadium at the old RFK site as part of Washington, D.C.’s National Mall. For now? They remain in Landover, Md., where Northwest Stadium sits just down Hill Oaks Road from G. James Gholson Middle School.

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