NFL Training Camps Open Next Week; Cardinals First in on Monday

Back to work!

Clubs will begin their on-field preparations for NFL Kickoff 2012 next week, starting with the Arizona Cardinals on Monday, July 23 when their veterans and rookies report. By Sunday, July 29, every NFL team will be in camp.

More and more, teams are training at their regular-season headquarters. In 2000, only five of 31 (16 percent) teams stayed close to home. This year, more than half the league (18 of 32, 56 percent) will be “staying home” for training camp.

For the first time in Bengals’ history, the club will conduct its training camp in Cincinnati at its home facility. The Bengals previously held training camp at Georgetown College (1997-2011) in Kentucky and Wilmington College (1968-1996) in Ohio.

“This change will provide our hometown fans a unique opportunity to see the 2012 team as it comes together,” says Bengals Executive Vice President KATIE BLACKBURN on training camp being held at Paul Brown Stadium. “We hope it will also help attract fans from outside Greater Cincinnati.”

The Ravens, too, are looking forward to having all the comforts of home at their disposal as they remain at the Under Armour Performance Center in Owings Mills, Maryland again this summer. Last season, the club decided to conduct training camp at its practice facility in Owings Mills instead of McDaniel College in Westminster, Maryland for the first time in franchise history (since 1996).

“How teams conduct training camp today is vastly different,” says Ravens General Manager and Executive Vice President OZZIE NEWSOME. “Our football needs and requirements are different. The absence of two-a-days, space needed for the players and the meetings, the importance of having an indoor field when the summer storms come – all are football-influenced factors.”

For the complete release, click here