The opening of Vikings training camp this week at the team's spectacular new headquarters in the Twin Cities suburb of Eagan marks the end of an era in Minnesota. It’s also a continuation of the NFL's evolution away from teams holding training camps on college campuses away from their home cities.
Of the 32 NFL teams, 21 now conduct summer training at or near their home facilities. When I first joined the Vikings front office in 1976, every team held training camp away from its team facility.
SIGN UP to watch every NFL game and RedZone this season on DAZN
Like many Minnesotans, I feel a combined sense of sadness and excitement in this new age. There was a quaintness as Vikings fans trekked to small-town Mankato for a close-up view of quarterback Fran Tarkenton and the Purple People Eaters with no tickets needed and no cost to attend. Vikings fans now have to order tickets online to attend practice (with 5,000 tickets available per practice). Fans can order free digital tickets or pay $20 for a reserved seat in the bleachers, and there's a parking fee. Many other NFL camps operate the same way.
Fans used to be able to chase down players for autographs around campus before and after practice. Today's players are not nearly as accessible. The limited access is sad to see.
Vikings quarterback Tommy Kramer signs autographs for fans while walking off the practice field at training camp in Mankato. (Photo courtesy of Minnesota Vikings)
The excitement for Vikings fans this year comes with the opportunity to attend practices at the team’s new TCO Performance Center, which includes a 5,500-seat stadium and multiple practice fields.
I've toured the new facility; it feels triple the size of the Vikings’ previous facility with phenomenal amenities throughout the offices, team areas and indoor/outdoor fields, not to mention a state-of-the-art broadcast studio.
It’s quite the culture change after 57 years of Vikings teams sweating through outstate Minnesota summer camps while living and working in spartan college conditions, first up north in Bemidji for five years and then in the southern part of the state in Mankato for 52 years.
MORE: 2018 NFL training camp schedule
I spent parts of July and August in Mankato for 23 years, including a six-year stint when I was responsible for setting up and overseeing camp as the team's director of operations. I envy the team ops people today who do not have to handle all the details of moving a football team, including computers, video monitors, strength training equipment and other day-to-day necessities to an out-of-town site.
My first training camp began 10 days after my wedding, and unlike the current three-week (at most) camps, we would spend six weeks in Mankato. It's been said often, but players today don't know how good they have it.
Vikings training camp in Mankato; Gage Hall in the background (Photo courtesy of Minnesota Vikings)
Teams 40 years ago did not have a nine-week offseason program with OTAs and an organized strength/conditioning program — the only offseason activity was a weekend rookie minicamp. But once Vikings players pulled into Gage Hall at Mankato State University (later renamed Minnesota State-Mankato) for training camp, they experienced long, physically and mentally draining days. They had to bring window air conditioners to stay cool in their dorm rooms.
The current CBA limits the number of on-field hours allowed and severely cuts down on fully padded practices (none until after the third day of camp, and then one per day). Prior to 2011, teams were allowed to conduct morning and afternoon fully padded practices, although most teams over the years shifted to morning walk-throughs.
In my early training camps, there were no days off from practice except for the day following the six — yes, six — preseason games (reduced to four in 1978). The team reported back to Mankato the following evening for dinner and meetings.
Now, one full day off per week is mandatory in addition to breaks for preseason games.
Vikings practice at 1981 training camp in Mankato. (Photo courtesy of Minnesota Vikings)
The camp routine included three meals per day in the dining hall, which got monotonous even with good food. There were evening meetings until 9:00 p.m., and then players would high-tailed it to the Albatross bar on campus until they were due back at the dorm for their 11:00 p.m. curfew. Meanwhile, many of the coaches hit Jake's Pizza for a late-night beer.
When it finally came time to sleep for those teams in the mid-to-late 1970s, the single beds were not long enough for tall linemen such as Carl Eller and Ron Yary. All current Vikings players will stay a local hotel with queen or king beds. Some NFL teams allow their vets to sleep at home, as was the case when I joined the Titans in 1999 and we held camp at our training facility in Nashville.
After all those years in Mankato with the Vikings, I was thrilled not to have to travel to training camp. But as is the case this year for long-time Vikings staff members, I left behind so many memories.
MORE TRAINING CAMP 2018:
New-look teams, battles to watch
In Mankato, the Vikings front-office and camp staff always tried to find some fun amid the tedium and the sad times such as cut days. We'd dash off for a quick nine holes while the players napped after lunch. We played pick-up basketball with our staff and media during team meetings at night. (Future All-Pro wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald hooped with us as a Vikings ball boy.)
I loved bringing my kids to camp to watch practice, but their favorite part of the day was jumping off the high dive in the indoor campus pool.
Other Mankato snapshots in my mind include bocce ball games, run by then-future Hall of Fame coach Bud Grant and team trainer Fred Zamberletti, behind the dorm. I remember watching the cars race out of the parking lot as they headed north for preseason home games or road trips on the night with no meetings. Players like Jim Marshall would try to cut the 90-minute drive from Mankato to Minneapolis down to an hour or less. State Patrol cars lied in wait on Highway 169 after receiving a call from Grant that his players were likely driving at warp speed.
Bud Grant commands a huddle at Vikings training camp in Mankato. (Photo courtesy of Minnesota Vikings)
Always ranking high in Vikings lore was the brutal ironman competition to test the players' conditioning on the first day of camp under Les Steckel in 1984.
A favorite Mankato memory is of Vikings All-Pro defensive tackle Keith Millard, who had a manic personality, tussling with defensive coordinator Floyd Peters and then tossing a dummy that looked like Peters off the dorm roof as the team watched in bewilderment from the fields below. It all was orchestrated by wily head coach Jerry Burns.
But as for the next few weeks, I doubt we'll see Everson Griffen or Harrison Smith throwing a coach dummy off the roof of Vikings' headquarters. The players likely will be decompressing in the cryotherapy chamber when they're not in football mode.
Training camps just are not what they used to be.
Jeff Diamond is a former president of the Titans and former vice president/general manager of the Vikings. He was selected NFL Executive of the Year in 1998. Diamond is currently a business and sports consultant who also does broadcast and online media work. He makes speaking appearances to corporate/civic groups and college classes on Negotiation and Sports Business/Sports Management. He is the former chairman and CEO of The Ingram Group. Follow Jeff on Twitter: @jeffdiamondNFL.
