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07/08 10:20 CDT NFL's stay-at-home order means no travel for training camp
NFL's stay-at-home order means no travel for training camp
By SCHUYLER DIXON
AP Pro Football Writer
Tim Flynn was looking forward to one final year as the mayoral host of training
camp for the Dallas Cowboys in Oxnard, California.
So much for that.
The pandemic forced the NFL to abandon, at least for this year, the fading but
still time-honored tradition of teams traveling to training camp.
The league's version of a stay-at-home order will end the latest California run
for the Cowboys, stop the 54-year streak for the Pittsburgh Steelers in
Latrobe, Pennsylvania, and keep the Carolina Panthers away from the only
campsite the 25-year-old franchise has known.
And Flynn won't get that final, formal goodbye with Cowboys owner Jerry Jones.
Camps are scheduled to start July 28.
"It's a little bit of a disappointment for me individually because I'm moving
on," said Flynn, who is running for another office in Ventura County after 14
years on the Oxnard City Council, the last eight as mayor.
"But you know what? I'll still be able to see the practices. I just won't be
mayor doing it. That's kind of like my own special relationship there."
Flynn is confident the Cowboys will be back after one year in Texas. Dallas
will hold the entirety of camp in its home market for the first time. It will
be in the sparkling facility that opened four years ago and can handle the
logistics because of an indoor field that can keep players out of the Texas
heat.
But even before the opening of the sprawling complex 30 minutes north of
Dallas, Flynn said he never worried about whether Jones would quit bringing the
Cowboys to California.
Likewise, Flynn isn't concerned that Jones & Co. will suddenly realize they
have everything they need in the suburb of Frisco and don't have to make the
NFL's longest trip for training camp: about 1,500 miles.
Among the biggest assets about 60 miles north of Los Angeles are mild weather
and two side-by-side outdoor grass fields next to a hotel that houses all
players, coaches and staff members.
"There's just nothing that can replace it," Flynn said. "The lure of California
will always be there. And if not just for the Cowboys, it is for many other
teams. But we have a very special relationship with the Cowboys and we want
that to continue."
Officials with Wofford College in Spartanburg, South Carolina, are preparing
for the permanent departure of the Panthers. The club is building a practice
facility in Rock Hill, still in South Carolina but about 40 miles closer to
downtown Charlotte.
When the new building opens, training camp and everything else will be held
there --- as it is with the majority of NFL teams. For decades, most or all
teams trained elsewhere in the summer. That number has dwindled to single
digits.
Wofford, the alma mater of former owner Jerry Richardson, built locker rooms
and facilities specifically for the expansion Panthers, who debuted in 1995.
"We've enjoyed hosting them, made a lot of friendships and learned a lot," said
athletic director Richard Johnson, who was Wofford's men's basketball coach
when the Panthers showed up.
"I think the ancillary benefit to hosting camps is you get kind of the side
benefit, the expertise of that organization. We're going to miss that. It's
always good to have visitors on campus. So we're gonna miss that as well."
Saint Vincent College in Latrobe hasn't seen a summer without the Steelers
since 1965, when they trained in Kingston, Rhode Island, before splitting the
1966 camp between the University of Rhode Island and Saint Vincent.
In a brief statement after the NFL announced that teams would stay home,
Steelers President Art Rooney II said the club planned to return to Latrobe
next year.
The Cowboys had a 27-year streak in Thousand Oaks, not far from Oxnard, that
ended in 1990, a year after Jones bought the team and fired longtime coach Tom
Landry. The club has bounced between Texas and California since. The latest
streak in Oxnard lasted eight years.
The Buffalo Bills have trained about a 90-minute drive from home at St. John
Fisher College in Rochester, New York, since 2000, and their current deal
covers next season.
Sean McDermott has preferred shorter stints away from home, and there's been
speculation the fourth-year coach wants to spend the entire time at the Bills'
facility. McDermott takes issue with such talk.
"I think there was some myth, for some reason, mixed messaging early," said
McDermott, who has led the Bills to the playoffs twice in three seasons after
Buffalo missed the postseason 17 straight years. "I just believe in that for a
lot of reasons, one of which is getting away I think builds fellowship and
camaraderie."
Super Bowl champion Kansas City has trained about an north in St. Joseph's,
Missouri, for the past decade, and coach Andy Reid prefers going away. Like the
Cowboys, the Chiefs have two outdoor fields and one indoor field, so being at
home won't be a huge issue.
It's not much of a blip for Indianapolis either. The Colts have trained not far
from home at a massive youth sports complex the past two years and are likely
to return next year.
Washington has trained in Richmond, Virginia, since 2013, but was at team
headquarters before that. The move to Richmond was mostly for fans, so it might
be in play next year.
Flynn is sure the fans will be waiting if --- he leans toward when --- the
Cowboys return to Southern California.
"The Cowboys being a national sports team, it broadens their fan base by coming
to California," Flynn said. "I just always thought they'd be back."
If so, they'll be greeted by a new mayor.
___
AP Sports Writers John Wawrow in Buffalo, New York; Dave Skretta in Kansas
City, Missouri; Steve Reed in Charlotte, North Carolina; Michael Marot in
Indianapolis; Stephen Whyno in Washington; and Will Graves in Pittsburgh
contributed to this report.
___
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