The Colts next week are holding their first in-state joint training camp with another NFL team since moving to Indianapolis in '84, and what could have been the "best attended week of Colts training camp in
recent years -- perhaps decades -- is instead being closed to the
public," according to Anthony Schoettle of the INDIANAPOLIS BUSINESS JOURNAL. The Colts "normally hold training camp" at Anderson Univ., but following the team’s preseason opener against the Eagles on Sunday, the Colts "are moving camp to the team’s West 56th Street training complex" with the Bears coming to town. Colts officials said that the move "is necessary because the Bears couldn’t find a suitable place to stay in Anderson." Anderson Madison County Visitors Bureau Exec Dir Matt Rust said, “That’s news to me. We have plenty of hotel space here." Schoettle noted the Bears "opted to book a hotel in downtown Indianapolis, where there are a number of hotels with several hundred rooms." The Colts then decided to "move the site of the joint training camp to its west-side complex to make things more efficient for the Bears." Regular Colts training camp sessions "draw 5,000 to 8,000 spectators, but Colts officials estimated 20,000 or more might have attended a Colts-Bears joint practice, which will include some inter-squad scrimmaging." Colts COO Pete Ward said that moving the joint camp to Lucas Oil Stadium "was not an option because more than one football field is needed to accommodate the joint practices" (IBJ.com, 8/12).
