Post by prossman on Jan 6, 2009 7:49:28 GMT -7
Join Date: Jul 2004
Posts: 31,495 DC.COM Eatman: Back To The Alamo: Training Camp Expected Back In San Antonio
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Nick Eatman - Email
DallasCowboys.com Staff Writer
January 5, 2009 5:39 PM
IRVING, Texas - In less than eight months the Cowboys will have a new indoor building to call home.
But before they get to their new stadium in Arlington, the team will have about three weeks in yet another dome as the Cowboys will likely trek down to San Antonio once again for a three-week training camp stay, a team official confirmed on Monday.
The Cowboys have held camp in the Alamo City three different times since 2002, including two years ago when they signed a five-year contract to hold practices in the Alamodome. Although a scheduling conflict in the dome forced the Cowboys to practice in Oxnard, Calif. last season, the Cowboys are expected make it back to San Antonio this summer for camp.
Considering the Cowboys announced training camp plans as late as the months of April and May in the past, there could be a few schedule changes this season.
However, that would likely only involve the starting dates.
Tentatively, the Cowboys are planning on arriving in San Antonio at the very end of July, and expected to practice for three full weeks, returning home to Dallas well after mid-August.
However, if the Cowboys were to play a fifth preseason game, and there has been some talk about the team playing in the annual Hall of Fame Game in Canton, Ohio, then the Cowboys would then go to San Antonio a week earlier. However, the club is expected to practice just three weeks in San Antonio, regardless of the starting time.
As the finishing touches are being placed on the new stadium in Arlington, there had been some talk floating around that the Cowboys could possibly practice there to wrap up training camp. Even if the Cowboys return from a full camp in San Antonio, there is always at least two weeks before the start of the season. It's likely the team would conduct some practices at the stadium, to at least get comfortable with the new surroundings.
But any speculation of a split-camp, including a return to Oxnard yet again, is likely over. The Cowboys had discussed the possibility of going back to California, at least for a couple of weeks. The team signed a five-year contract with San Antonio in 2006, but a Church of God convention, that was scheduled years in advance, occupied the Alamodome during the time the Cowboys were to hold training camp.
But no such roadblocks should stop the Cowboys from a return to San Antonio this year.
Not only does it keep the team in its home state, but right in the middle of a strong fan base in the Alamo City. The Cowboys will practice out of the dome, and will stay in the recently-built Grand Hyatt Hotel, just minutes from the venue.
As the Cowboys enter their 50th season, they have had just eight different training camp sites, including three in the first three years, when they practiced in Oregon, Minnesota and then Michigan.
In 1963, the Cowboys moved camp out west to Thousand Oaks, Calif., where they practiced for 27 years before taking it closer to home.
In 1990, the Cowboys held camp in Austin, Texas and kept it there for eight years before moving up to Wichita Falls for four years from 1998-2001.
In 2002, the Cowboys went to San Antonio for two years, and then went to Oxnard, where they actually split a camp with Wichita Falls in 2001. From 2004-06, the Cowboys enjoyed the California weather in Oxnard, and then returned last year, sandwiched around a 2007 camp in San Antonio.
But it's back to the Alamo City again for training camp. And while history suggests that things can always change, it does appear this could be the Cowboys' summer home for a while.
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