Tale of Two Training Camps: Cowboys Head Across the USA

Jerry Jones can't make up his mind.

Sipping tea as he unwinds in what has become a no-frills executive suite at the modest hotel compound that is temporary home for arguably the NFL's most popular team, the Dallas Cowboys' hyper owner wants it both ways.

"It's tough to pick one," Jones says, shortly after the Cowboys completed the first practice of the second phase of their training camp last weekend.

In an unusual routine crafted by Jones, the Cowboys have split their training camp -- again. After opening with 14 days in San Antonio that drew 200,989 to practices, they packed their training camp into nine 48-foot semi-trucks and moved it halfway across the country.

For a franchise that has won two playoff games in 14 seasons but leads the league in aggressive marketing, it's a chance to tap into the mega-sized Los Angeles market vacated by the NFL since 1995. More than 100,000 are expected to watch practices during two weeks at fields installed adjacent to a golf course in this town about an hour's drive northwest of Los Angeles.

Jones, not beyond shrewd negotiation, seems unwilling to commit to only one site when asked how the Cowboys -- who split between Wichita Falls, Texas, and Oxnard in 2001 -- will conduct future camps. Forbes ranked the Cowboys as the most valuable sports franchise in America in 2009, worth an estimated $1.65 billion.

"Perception," Jones says, "is an important word in our decision-making."

That's Jones-speak for loving the buzz that an out-of-the-box action creates.

"I spent about 50% more on that stadium for that very reason," he says of the elaborate $1.2 billion Cowboys Stadium that will host Super Bowl XLV in February. "It perked interest."

Between staging the two camps -- the Cowboys are thought to be the only NFL team to have done it -- they opened the preseason in Canton, Ohio, in the Pro Football Hall of Fame Game, had a practice at their Irving, Texas, headquarters, had another that drew 21,539 at their stadium in Arlington, Texas, then played the first of two home preseason games.

"A good name for us would be Barnum and Bailey," wide receiver Patrick Crayton says. "We're hitting every stop and all points between. But you kind of get used to it with the star on your helmet. This comes with the territory."

Jones scoffs at the suggestion that moving camp taxes his team and staff, and he won't reveal how much it costs. He thinks practicing in the summer heat -- as the Cowboys once did in Austin, while winning three Super Bowls in four years beginning with the 1992 season -- is more draining.

Many players seem to take the shift in stride. "This is my job," says veteran linebacker Keith Brooking, in his second season with the Cowboys. "I've got to be at my best, regardless of the circumstances. I don't care if we're having camp in Europe."

Brooking paused as he gazed at thousands of fans, most wearing the team's silver, blue and white jerseys, lining the fences surrounding the practice field.

"You never know with Jerry."