Source: Raiders moving training camp from Napa to new Nevada facility

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The Raiders were set to conduct their offseason and training camp in the Bay Area before leaving permanently for Las Vegas. The coronavirus pandemic wiped out all football business at the team’s Alameda training complex, including most of a 2020 offseason program now conducted virtually with players, coaches and team officials staying home.

The team still had plans to hold training camp in Napa, but it seemed less likely in recent weeks with the team considering other options. Now that’s out of the question with the NFL mandating teams conduct training camp at their home facilities due to the ongoing public health crisis.

The Raiders will conduct their camp at their new facility currently under construction in Henderson, Nev. The complex is scheduled for completion by the end of this month, leaving plenty of time to be ready when camps start later in July.

A league source confirmed news on Tuesday afternoon that was first reported by ESPN.

Commissioner Roger Goodell explained the edict in a Tuesday memo to all 32 teams, stating that the league and the NFLPA wanted to limit travel and the need to maintain two facilities during the summer. The NFL and NFLPA have also banned joint practices this preseason, an increasingly popular trend the Raiders had joined the last two preseasons with the Detroit Lions and Los Angeles Rams, respectively.

This is a one-year mandate to train at home, not a permanent policy switch that impacts 10 teams who go away for camp. That means the Raiders could return to the Napa training camp facility, and owner Mark Davis loved during the team’s 25 summers spent in Wine Country. Davis didn’t rule out training in Napa even after moving to Las Vegas in an interview last summer, though that’s ultimately uncertain at this stage. The team does not have a contract to return to Napa in 2021.

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While it’s extremely hot in Nevada during summer months when training camps are held, the Raiders have an indoor practice bubble as part of their facility. They could also conduct intense workouts early in the morning before temperatures rise. 

The Raiders will be fully entrenched in Nevada soon. Some moving trucks have already transported property from Alameda to Henderson, where the Silver and Black are building a gorgeous training facility. Allegiant Stadium is nearing completion just off the Las Vegas Strip, with July 31 as a scheduled completion date.

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Several Raiders players, including quarterback Derek Carr, have already moved to the Las Vegas area and are training in small groups at local gathering spots in the region.

The NFL is planning to start training camps on time, with government mandated shelter-in-place restrictions loosening as the economy begins to re-open. The full squad typically reports just over two weeks prior to the first preseason, which the Raiders are scheduled to play on Aug. 13 at Seattle.

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