Clark Hunt likes traveling for Chiefs training camp

What used to be common practice for NFL teams has turned into a bit of a fading practice, but that hasn’t stopped the Kansas City Chiefs from relocating their operations for training camp to the campus of Missouri Western State University.

It wasn’t so long ago that every NFL franchise would aim for a real camp-like experience in the first few weeks of the preseason. However as creature comforts and organizational convenience have taken hold, teams have opted to stay at their home stadiums for training camp, with only a select few still going to all the trouble to go elsewhere for weeks of practice.

Kansas City Chiefs owner Clark Hunt says he likes the benefits of traveling to a neutral site for training camp.b

The Chiefs have been going to St. Joseph, Missouri for several years now, and while team owner Clark Hunt says the franchise will evaluate things year by year, it seems as if the Chiefs will be returning again and again as long as it provides such a meaningful “bonding” experience.

On Friday, Hunt spoke with reporters from camp about why he continues to travel away to St. Joseph.

“I think we’re one of six or seven teams now that goes away for camp as more have moved back to their facilities,” said Hunt. “I think there’s a bonding process that happens when you put the team in a dorm room for three-and-a-half weeks. You don’t have the comforts of home.

“There’s a chance to really focus on football—not 24/7 because the guys do have some time off—but probably 12 hours a day, they’re focused on football. They’re together, they’re talking about football, they’re encouraging each other to get better. They have the interaction with the coaches throughout the day and also with the rest of the staff. So I really think it’s a positive.”

The Chiefs will continue to hold practices, some available to the general public, in St. Joseph through August 18. At that point, the Chiefs will be partway through their preseason schedule and will come home for their final practices, games, and roster cuts.

The regular season begins for the Chiefs on the road at Arizona when they face the Cardinals on 9/11.