It was announced today that the Washington Redskins Training Camp festivities are making the move from Ashburn, Virginia to Richmond, Virginia in 2013.
Redskins General Manager Bruce Allen released the following written statement:
“We are very pleased to continue our relationship with the Commonwealth of Virginia that my father established 41 years ago.”
“We are proud to call Loudoun County the home of Redskins Park. In conjunction with the governor’s office and the City of Richmond, we also look forward to finding a great summer training camp facility in the city for both our team and our fans to enjoy.”
Governor Bob McDonnell said in a press release that, “Virginia considers the Redskins our team.”
“The team is based here. The team trains here. The players live here. Virginians root for the Redskins on the field, and off the field the team contributes greatly to the economy and culture of the commonwealth.”
The news is surprising in that there had been talks that the summer training might be done somewhere near Capitol Hill, on a site not far from the old RFK stadium; but the news is not surprising, in that coach Mike Shanahan has been talking about moving training camp out of Redskins Park ever since he arrived.
It was also announced today that the Redskins would be making $30 million in upgrades to the now 20-year old Redskins Park.
With how vanilla practices have become over the last decade at Redskins Park, maybe the move will crank things up a little. There is a potential benefit in that with the team staying together while ‘away’ at Richmond – it could be argued that there are more bonding opportunities and that perhaps it could serve to develop further cohesiveness.
It’s still unknown exactly where the team will train in Richmond.
Edit: This blog was archived in May of 2016 from our original articles database.It was originally posted by Mark Solway