Cards to hold whole Training camp in Prescott

[Skkorpion]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Tuesday, July 26, 2005



CARDS TO HOLD ENTIRE TRAINING CAMP IN PRESCOTT

Tempe, AZ – The Arizona Cardinals Football Club today announced that the team has moved the site of its 2005 training camp to Prescott, AZ from Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff. A recent outbreak of norovirus on the N.A.U. campus led the team to move its camp from that location.

The Cardinals training camp in Prescott will be headquartered at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University for the first half and the Prescott Quality Inn & Suites for the second.

“I cannot overstate our appreciation to everyone in Prescott who has bent over backwards to accommodate our team,” said Cardinals Vice President of Football Operations Rod Graves. “Thanks to some exceptional effort and support – particularly from the individuals at Embry-Riddle and the Quality Inn – we’ve been able to quickly secure a very positive situation for our training camp.”

Players will report this Sunday to Embry-Riddle and begin practicing on Monday. They will remain there through August 11 and during that time utilize on-campus facilities for housing, dining, and meetings as well as practice.

Following the first preseason game vs. Dallas, the team will return to Prescott on August 14 and base its operation at the Quality Inn, which also hosted the Cardinals during their four-day stay in Prescott last year. The team will break camp on Wednesday, August 24.

Throughout their time in Prescott, the team will have access to on-campus fields at Embry-Riddle as well as three other nearby locations – Keebler Field, Pioneer Park, and Ken Lindley Field.

All practices in Prescott will be open to the public and free to attend.



- azcardinals.com -

 

[CardinalLaw]

Not a bad choice.

 

[O]

You heard it here first, thanks Skkorp.

 

[seesred]

SKORP,

Are they going to come out and tell us where and when as they will divide squads between many fields?

Thanks

GBR

 

[Skkorpion]

SKORP,

Are they going to come out and tell us where and when as they will divide squads between many fields?

Thanks

GBR

Yes. And I'll post the release as soon as ASFN receives it.

 

[abomb]

Quality Inn?!? Are they playing the parking lot?

At least there is a weight room;

A-Bomb

 

[azdad1978]

 

[Ryanwb]

Quality Inn?!? Are they playing the parking lot?

At least there is a weight room;

A-Bomb

Dude they get a free continental breakfast! I'm jealous of the lifestyle afforded to professional athletes

You must be registered for see images

 

[abomb]

Dude they get a free continental breakfast! I'm jealous of the lifestyle afforded to professional athletes

You must be registered for see images

LOL! I see it going down as such;

Marc Bulger after getting sandwiched by Berry and Dockett on 3rd and long: "Wow! Did you guys install a new defense?!?"

Dockett: "No, but we did practice at a Holiday Inn Express last training camp."

W00t.

A-Bomb

 

[JPlay]

Was the Travelodge booked?

 

[Duckjake]

The Cardinals training camp in Prescott will be headquartered at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University .....

A great place to work on the fly pattern.

www.erau.com

https://www.bkstr.com/webapp/wcs/st...0001&storeId=10506&categoryId=10003&demoKey=d

I Already ordered a cap.

 

[az1965]

Good deal! Right decision... tough for fans who already made plans for Flagstaff reservation and stuff.

 

[azdad1978]

Cardinals move after virus hits NAU

Kent Somers
The Arizona Republic
Jul. 27, 2005 12:00 AM

When the Cardinals' 2005 season is chronicled, the story will begin last week, when some young wrestlers staying at Northern Arizona University started feeling gastrointestinal distress.

The illnesses, suspected to be norovirus, led the Cardinals to move their training camp from Flagstaff to Prescott, based on the campus of Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University.

The Cardinals announced the move Tuesday afternoon, just a couple of hours after a busload of team employees returned from a tour in Prescott. Rod Graves, vice president of football operations, marveled at what had transpired.



"What we normally plan for over months of time, we basically had a 24-hour period to pull it all together," Graves said.

The Cardinals will hold their entire training camp in Prescott, where they had planned to spend just four days.

Coach Dennis Green already is using the move to his advantage. He sees himself as an underdog and has tried to sell that mind-set to his team.

Moving camp? He brushes off the significance like crumbs on a table.

"You can't sit around and cry about it," he said. "Time moves on. Nobody is going to say to the Arizona Cardinals, 'Too bad.' It doesn't work that way."

Training camp, he said, "revolves around three hots and a cot and a whole lot of football, a whole lot of practice."

The Cardinals report to training camp Sunday and will stay in the dormitories at Embry-Riddle until Aug. 11. They will also use the school's dining and meeting facilities.

They play a preseason game against Dallas Aug. 13 and will return to Prescott on Aug. 14, with headquarters at the Quality Inn in Prescott Valley. They will stay there until they break camp Aug. 24.

They'll practice at Embry-Riddle's athletic fields in addition to three locations in Prescott: Keebler Field, Pioneer Park and Ken Lindley Field.

Tim Peterson, the team's turf manager, is in Prescott helping to prepare the fields.

Practice locations could change daily, depending on logistics and field conditions.

The players probably will take the move in stride. There are some advantages. Prescott is 30 minutes closer to the Valley, and its elevation, approximately 5,000 feet, is nearly 2,000 feet less than Flagstaff's.

Players usually struggle with the elevation early in camp at Flagstaff.

"To be totally honest with you, no," safety Adrian Wilson said when asked if he would miss anything about Flagstaff.

Holding camp in Prescott shouldn't affect the team, he said.

"I don't think it's going to matter," he said. "I think guys are ready to get to camp regardless of where it's at. I don't think this will be a distraction."

The illnesses at NAU have affected approximately 100 people, forcing the university to cancel other camps.

The university and Flagstaff will take an economic hit. The Cardinals paid NAU approximately $425,000 a year to use its facilities, and because these circumstances were beyond both parties' control, there will be no financial settlement, Graves said.

There is a possibility the Cardinals could hold future camps in Prescott because their contract with NAU ends this year.

If Prescott successfully pulls off this camp, Flagstaff will face serious competition.

"We'd be remiss if we didn't put in an effort to acquire them," said Steve Norwood, Prescott's city manager.

Training camp made a $2 million annual economic impact on the Flagstaff area.

The Cardinals, meanwhile, are not lamenting their misfortune. Graves thinks this is just the beginning of a feel-good story.

"I think, through something like this, we'll be a better football team because of it," he said.

http://www.azcentral.com/sports/cardinals/articles/0727cardscamp0727.html

 

[azdad1978]

Cards call audible after virus makes Flagstaff too risky

By Darren Urban, Tribune
July 27, 2005

It was Thursday when the Arizona Cardinals first found out they might have to dump Flagstaff as their training camp site because of a vicious norovirus.

By Monday, they knew they had to move camp. By Tuesday, they had settled on Prescott for the location of their nearly month-long preparation.

The turnaround time flew by fast; the logistics were predictably a nightmare. But by the time the plans were set midafternoon Tuesday, coach Dennis Green refused to see it as any kind of setback.

"In football, you can’t sit around and cry about it," Green said. "Time moves on. Nobody is going to say to the Arizona Cardinals, too bad. It doesn’t work that way. We don’t want our players thinking that way, we don’t want our fans thinking that way."

It isn’t the perfect situation. The team will train at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University the entire time, although they can only stay in the dorms on campus through Aug. 11, when students arrive for the new semester. The second half of the camp, taking place after the first preseason game Aug. 13 through Aug. 24, the team will be housed at the Quality Inn & Suites.

"Our players will hardly know the difference, other than a change of scenery," vice president of football operations Rod Graves said. "It’s training camp. It’s not meant to be easy and luxurious and all of that. In some respects I think Dennis Green, who also has been excellent through this whole process, thrives on these types of adjustments."

That message seems to already have been accepted by the players. Asked if there was anything he would miss in Flagstaff, safety Adrian Wilson noted the long drive and the extreme elevation and said, "To be totally honest with you, no."

"As long as we have a place to practice at and a place to sleep and eat, I don’t think it matters," Wilson added. "I don’t think it’ll be a distraction in any way."

The Cardinals already know Prescott a little bit, having spent their final week of camp there last season. At about 5,300 feet of elevation it is almost 2,000 feet closer to sea level than Flagstaff. The average temperature in August is a high of 84 degrees and a low of 55, compared to 78 and 48 in Flagstaff.

Embry-Riddle is expanding its campus, and there is a possibility the team could forge a future relationship with the school.

Graves reiterated his sentiments from Monday, when he said the team will explore all their options for future training camps given that the Cards’ contract with Northern Arizona University has expired.

Green certainly sounded as if he might like to continue working in Prescott. He noted that most teams deal with hotter temperatures in camp than the cooler weather the Cards usually get in Flagstaff.

Green also dismissed the worry about wet weather. At NAU, the team could practice inside Walkup Skydome. In Prescott, they will have to go to a nearby armory and only have a walkthrough.

"What took place in the Skydome was unusual," Green said. "There are few colleges that can invest in an indoor practice field. In the real world, you have walkthroughs. In the real world, you put your tennis sneakers on and you do a walkthrough, and that’s where we are going to be, in the real world."

Despite the trend around the NFL for teams to simply hold training camp at their own facilities, Graves said the extreme heat does not make that a viable option for the Cardinals.

EXTRA POINT: Green said he was not concerned that five draft picks remain unsigned.

"Hopefully Elton (Brown) and Darryl (Blackstock) and Eric (Green) will get signed very quickly, and then J.J. (Arrington) and Antrel (Rolle)," Green said. "If they are not here, it’s because their agents and we can’t get together, it’s not their work ethic. . . . You can only work with the guys who are there. You can’t take it personal. It’s not because they don’t want to work. I know they want to work."

http://www.eastvalleytribune.com/index.php?sty=45207

 

[Southpaw]

Is the runway at Embry Riddle PAT or natural grass ?

 

[Shane]

This ruined my plans for training camp. I will now not be attending for the first time in 6 years

Oh well will be back at it next year!

 

[outoftheashes]

mock game?

Anyone heard if the mock game and signing will still be on the same day? Or where it will be?

 

[duckfallas]

Can't wait to see the new digs at Prescott!