Training Camp 2015

It all starts today for the Minnesota Vikings and Pittsburgh Steelers. Their players report for Training Camp 2015 today. Those two teams will take the field at Fawcett Stadium in Canton for the Hall of Fame Game on August 9. They have an early and extra preseason game so they get a head-start on the 2015 season. The rest of the 30 NFL teams will trickle into their respective camps over the coming week. Actual football is back. Well, practice for actual football is back.

The Vikings and Steelers are part of a shrinking number of teams that move away from home for training camp. There was a time when every team traveled to a somewhat remote location so that the players can concentrate on nothing but football. The recent trend has been to keep training camp at home. That trend really got started started this century. In 2000, all but five teams traveled to a somewhat remote location. That number has increased to 20. There will only be 12 teams traveling to camps this season. The Vikings and Steelers are two of them. The Vikings will train at Minnesota St. University in Mankato for the 50th consecutive season. The Steelers will train at St. Vincent College in Latrobe, Pennsylvania for the 50th consecutive season. Only the Green Bay Packers have called their training camp home-away-from-home home longer. The Packers will train at St. Norberts College in De Pere, Wisconsin for the 58th consecutive season. The Packers first training camp at St. Norbert's was the season before Vince Lombardi was hired. A lot has changed since then. Including the number of NFL teams staying in the cozy comfort of home for training camp.

Perhaps it's for nostalgic reasons but I prefer that football training camps take place away from home. To me, it's part of the process. It gets hot and football players go off to camp. They go and live in cramped dorm rooms. Eat, drink, sleep, study, and practice nothing but football. Curfews and bed checks. It's the bonding and team-building that comes with being stuck together, going through "football hell" together. I'm not sure why so many teams broke from the tradition of traveling to camp. It must have been for money reasons. Everything is now done for money reasons. It has to be cheaper to practice at home. The cost of moving enough football equipment to cover 90 football players of varying sizes can't be cheap. The cost of feeding these players as they burn thousands of calories each day can't be cheap. Staying at home must have been a decision made by an owner. It couldn't have been made by a football coach. A football coach would never choose a training camp that is cozy and comfortable.

In addition to the Vikings, Steelers, and Packers these are the other nine teams that handle training camp the way that it should be handled. They travel to it.

Buffalo Bills
Indianapolis Colts
Kansas City Chiefs
Oakland Raiders
Carolina Panthers
Chicago Bears
Dallas Cowboys
New Orleans Saints
Washington Redskins

The Dallas Cowboys travel the furthest for their summer home. They fly half way across the country to practice in Oxnard, CA. This is the tenth time that they've done this since their first visit to Oxnard in 2001. The Panthers make the "other" Carolina feel like part of the family by traveling to Wofford College in Spartanburg, South Carolina. Most teams that travel stay at small colleges. This has always made sense as small colleges already have practice fields, dorms, and cafeterias. Despite the potential hazards of 300+-pound linemen storming through the dorms, it's also a commercial win for the colleges to have NFL teams spend a few weeks on their campuses in the summer. Then there's the New Orleans Saints. They may travel through a few states to get to camp but their destination is The Greenbrier. "America's Resort since 1778." Bet it's nice! The Saints stay at a celebrated spa in White Sulphur Springs, WV. Poor Saints. Tackling dummies and pedicures. They should be refreshed for the hardships of the 2015 NFL season.

The best part of training camp is the fresh start. There's hope in a fresh start. Some teams might have a bit more hope than others. Anything can happen in a new NFL season and it all starts with training camp.

Oh, to be in Mankato in the middle of the summer.