By selling their training camp to Richmond in 2013, did the Washington Redskins buy the chemistry they need to become a playoff team? Not necessarily.
The Redskins will relocate two hours south as coach Mike Shanahan tries to recapture the NFL’s old tradition of training away from home. But 19 of 32 franchises now remain at their year-round facility, including nine of the 12 playoff teams last year. Teams have greatly improved their own facilities over the past two decades to eliminate the need to train elsewhere during the summer.
Ultimately, it’s not where teams train but who’s on the roster.
Among the seven franchises that won the past 10 Super Bowls, Pittsburgh, Indianapolis and the New York Giants summer at colleges outside their immediate daily training area. Even then Pittsburgh and Indianapolis were less than one hour away. New York heads three hours away to Albany as the only true throwback.
Shanahan wants to rid his players of the distractions that occur when they train at home. Family problems can cut into the 100 percent immersion. Over the past 12 years, some Redskins coaches even allowed veterans to go home at night.
Players prefer to remain at the daily facility. There’s nothing like millionaires carting TVs into a spartan dorm to make them remember their humble beginnings. Maybe they spend a little more time together in the dorms, but it’s a minimal gain.
The Redskins will spend just three weeks in Richmond, much less than the eight weeks they were in Carlisle, Pa., from 1963 to 1994 and the six weeks in Frostburg, Md., from 1995 to 1999 and back in Carlisle in 2002-03. Eight weeks were an eternity. So were six in Frostburg. Of course, there were no cell phones or Internet access in many of those years, so it was a blackout situation that no longer exists. Players had no choice but to get to know each other better — maybe spend an hour at the bar before curfew.
Washington fans should feel cheated, though. Their training camp was dealt to Richmond in exchange for Virginia legislators giving $4 million dollars for improvements to the team’s Ashburn facility, which will keep the Redskins from moving to the District or Maryland. It was a brilliant move by owner Dan Snyder — one worthy of predecessor Jack Kent Cooke — to bluff money from Virginia when the other options weren’t truly viable.
But Redskins fans must drive two hours to Richmond to see the team train. Sure, Richmond is a big Redskins market, as is the Tidewater area. But those fans are not the ones who fill FedEx Field. Is a southern camp a sign of the Redskins redirecting their marketing since the Baltimore Ravens control much of the Maryland suburbs?
Ultimately, it’s just three weeks, and that includes breaks for two preseason games. The time is valuable but not invaluable to the season’s fate. Whether the Redskins make the 2013 playoffs depends largely on Robert Griffin III’s development, not his dorm room.
Examiner columnist Rick Snider has covered local sports since 1978. Read more on Twitter @Snide_Remarks or email [email protected].
