GatewayRedbirds.com

That's the rumor. I never saw that one coming. I can't imagine UMR's facilities are quite up to NFL standards. If it ends up happening it would be kind of cool to see some of the players around town. Those guys are going to be bored out of their minds.

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Most teams don't hold camp at NFL quality sites. Macomb? Lindenwood U?

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They will upgrade the facility, and it's a great recruiting utility for the school. My son almost went to UW-Platteville strictlyl because for a small school their facilities were way better than anyone else because the Bears trained there for years.

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"Boy, that was exciting. I always say it ain't over til it's over, but that one should've been over a while ago." ~ Yogi Berra

Getting back to this isn't a bad idea for the Rams. Less distractions for 20-somethings.

A lot closer than Macomb. Can be hotter than hades in the summer -unlike the teams that head up north. Good for conditioning, but may cut into productivity/learning.

Years ago when The Rams decided to have training camp in Macomb, they had a list of improvements that had to be completed by WIU. Guessing if they go to Rolla some upgrades will have to be done.

I can't imagine that would be a good idea. At least WIU is FCS, so they could get a little more mileage out of their facility upgrades. Rolla is a D2 school that's had football for 12 years, and last I saw their facilities were on par with the average high school.

The Colts held their training camp at my alma mater for several years. A D III school. It isn't really about upgrading football facilities, though that part is nice. It is a big influx of cash to a university in general.

Teams also like to select a campus that doesn't have much student activity during the summer. Mess halls are open, weight rooms are open, dorms are open, etc.

Macomb is a ghost town during the summer and very few bars to get the players in trouble.

Thing is, they just upgraded their facilities in the last year or two and I still don't think they measure up. There are some nice new dorms close to the field, so that's a plus. They built a new fitness center but it isn't very big and built with engineering students in mind. I doubt they even have enough weight machines for an NFL team. They also put up some half assed tent to create an indoor practice field but it might be 40 yards long if we're being generous and not very tall. I haven't been in there but I assume it is at least field turf. Everything else is grass. My only reaction when I heard the idea was "huh?"

edit: That 12 years might be accurate for being D2, I'm not sure. But they've had football since at least the 1950s. They used to be in the MIAA for a long time.

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I lived in Rolla one summer. It was probably one of the best, most relaxing summers of my life. Essentially, this was my schedule:

Wake up at 9 or 10...go to class and do homework until 3. Go work out. Go to work at 5. Get off at 11. Go to the grotto/jimmys until 1 am. Walk half a mile home. I wasn't 21. No one really cared. The cops stopped me once for pee-ing on pine street which is like the main road around there and didn't even give me a ticket for anything....they just told me to go home. When they saw me an hour later stumbling around, they gave me a ride home.

I loved Rolla.

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