Our attention has begun to turn towards training camp, since the Colts are now off until then. This year’s training camp will look quite different, however, as it marks the first time since moving to Indianapolis that the Colts will hold camp at their own facility.
That inevitably means that a lot of things will be different - with the biggest thing being that fans won’t be able to watch practices anymore (besides for two special open practices at different locations). One thing they’re trying to keep the same, however, is that atmosphere of team bonding.
Chuck Pagano confirmed today that the players will stay at a local hotel during training camp, all in an effort to try to continue to promote that bonding.
When the Colts held camp at Anderson University or Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology, they stayed in dorm rooms which created more of a sense of unity as they were away from home. So now even though they’ll be staying at their home facility for training camp, it will still feel a bit like they’re getting away - just with a shorter drive home for their days off.
The Colts will be evaluating how training camp goes this year to determine what to do in future years, and no doubt one of the things they’ll be closely monitoring is whether this change has any tangible or noticable effect on team bonding.