Some communities work years to get a shot at an NFL training camp and have at least one year to prepare for the 3 week camps. Prescott, AZ (population 33.938), one of my top 100 agurbs®, had 5 days to put one together, when the outbreak of a strange flu-like norovirus hit Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff where the team normally trains.
Here’s what they did in those five days. They turned a trail into a road for easier access of the players to the practice field; built 96 NFL sized lockers from donated Home Depot supplies (I wish I had a picture of Jane Bristol, Prescott’s ED Director building those); swapped out twin sized dorm beds for queen sized beds fit for 300 pound linemen; helped wash the 2,000 towels/day that are needed in a training camp; and numerous other activities.
The impact for Prescott is estimated at $2 million, equal to what a Flagstaff study showed in 2003. It also brought numerous media mentions about the town ranging from Phoenix TV stations to Sports Illustrated. It’s hard to put a value on those regional and national mentions.
The Cardinals moved back to their home base of Phoenix this week. I’m sure that they left with a very favorable impression of what can happen when a small town puts their mind to accomplishing what many would consider an impossible task.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment