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All 32 NFL teams have been told by Commissioner Roger Goodell to hold their 2020 training camps at their home facilities this summer because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Indianapolis Colts said Tuesday night that the team will conduct its training camp at the Indiana Farm Bureau Football Center at 7001 W. 56th St. at a date to be announced.
The Colts said the “look forward to returning to the Grand Park Sports Campus next year.”
The team began holding training camp at Westfield’s Grand Park in 2018 after a seven-year stint at Anderson University. The camp drew 50,000 visitors last year during its July 25-Aug. 15 run. This year’s camp was scheduled for July 23-Aug. 15.
“We are disappointed at the cancellation for the 2020 Colts Training Camp but have understood this as a possibility amid the COVD-19 pandemic,” Vicki Gardner, spokeswoman for the city of Westfield said in a written statement. “Training camp is generally revenue neutral. Westfield gains the most from the national exposure.
“Our biggest disappointment is for our community and all the Colts fans. Grand Park provides the best and most accessible training camp experience in the NFL. It will be missed. But we are excited to welcome the Colts back to Westfield and Grand Park in 2021.”
Most NFL teams stay at their training complexes year-round, but Indianapolis, Dallas, Pittsburgh, Kansas City, Buffalo, Carolina, Washington and the Los Angeles Rams are among those that stage portions of training camp elsewhere.
The Cowboys and Steelers are scheduled for the Hall of Fame game in Canton, Ohio, on Aug. 6 and will be the first two teams to report in late July. Dallas usually trains in Oxnard, California, and Pittsburgh in nearby Latrobe, Pennsylvania.
The Cowboys have never held their entire preseason at home. The Steelers have trained at St. Vincent College in Latrobe for more than a half-century.
The league has canceled all in-person workouts at team facilities, which only in the past two weeks have begun opening on a limited basis. No coaches nor players other than those undergoing medical treatment and rehabilitation have been allowed in those facilities.
Soon, the NFL is hopeful of having club complexes fully open, but under strict medical guidelines including social distancing protocols.
One team in something of a limbo: the Raiders. Their move to Las Vegas has been complicated by the pandemic, of course. They had been working out of their Oakland-area complex in Alameda, and had been planning to hold training camp as usual in Napa, about one hour north of the Bay Area. But they could decide to move it to their new facility in Henderson, Nevada.
The Bills have gone to St. John Fisher College outside of Rochester, New York, since 2000, though they have decreased the time they’ve spent away for camp in recent years under coach Sean McDermott.
The Bills have expanded practice facilities at and around their headquarters, and last year unveiled a new training facility/weight room featuring state-of-the-art equipment and costing about $18 million as an addition to their headquarters.
Carolina has spent all 25 previous training camps at Wofford College in Spartanburg, South Carolina, about 90 minutes from Charlotte. Wofford was former owner Jerry Richardson’s alma mater.
One team that usually traveled for training camp, the Bears, previously announced they would not be going to Olivet Nazarene University in Bourbonnais, Illinois, where they spent the past 18 years.
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