Where are all the places the Raiders have held training camp?
The Raiders will move away from their Henderson facility this summer and take their training camp on the road to Costa Mesa, California.
It’s a decision that returns the franchise to their roots. The Raiders have prepared for upcoming seasons away from their usual home base for much of their history.
Here is where the team has held training camp over the years:
1960-1962
The Raiders spent their first three seasons training about 70 miles south of Oakland in the coastal town of Santa Cruz, California.
The team worked out at Santa Cruz High School while trying to gain a foothold in the American Football League.
The surf town’s climate was ideal. The field was anything but. Divots and gopher holes littered the grass surface.
1963-1984
The story goes that new coach Al Davis was driving north on Highway 101 when he first spotted the El Rancho Tropicana Hotel in Santa Rosa, California.
It was a sprawling property with 50 rooms spread out over several buildings. It also had enough space to build the practice fields and team facilities the Raiders would need for training camp. It served as the team’s summer workout spot for the next two decades.
There were several legendary stories that came out of the Raiders’ years in Santa Rosa.
Hall of Fame linebacker Ted Hendricks was responsible for several of them. Hendricks once brought an umbrella, a table and two chairs from a local restaurant and set them up on the field. He then had a rookie serve as his waiter between practice sessions.
Hendricks also famously rode a horse he borrowed from a local resident onto the field one day. He dismounted at the 50-yard line and declared himself ready to practice.
1985-1995
The Raiders moved on from Santa Rosa in 1985. But they stuck to the concept of hosting their training camp at a hotel next to their practice fields.
The Raiders’ next summer home was Oxnard, California. They stayed at the Hilton in 1985 and 1986, then set up shop at the Radisson Suite Hotel from 1987 to 1995.
The city, which now hosts the Cowboys’ training camp, offered the Raiders a favorable deal soon after the franchise relocated to Los Angeles in 1982. The team paid just $1 per year in rent to Oxnard. The city also footed the bill for maintaining the fields and helped finance the construction of the Radisson Suite Hotel.
1996-2019
The Raiders returned to Oakland for the 1995 season. They brought camp back to Northern California the following summer, this time staying at the Marriott Hotel in Napa.
It was a great setup. A walking path led to the practice fields and an outdoor weight room at Redwood Middle School. The site became the longest-running training camp location in franchise history.
The irony is it wasn’t the Raiders’ first choice.
The team hoped to return to Santa Rosa after moving back to Oakland. But the El Rancho Tropicana Hotel had closed down and been cleared away to make room for the Santa Rosa Marketplace discount shopping center.
Redwood Middle School ended up becoming a fortuitous host in more ways than one. One of its alumni is Brock Bowers, the Raiders’ 2024 first-round pick.
2020-2023
The Raiders still hoped to have their training camp in Napa after relocating to Las Vegas in 2020. There was also talk Reno or Southern California could be in the mix as potential hosts.
The COVID-19 pandemic changed that.
The Raiders stayed put and held camp at their spectacular state-of-the-art facility in Henderson instead.
The sweltering heat was not ideal, but the comforts of being at home (not to mention the cost) gave the organization little reason to move elsewhere its first few years in Las Vegas.
2024
This year the Raiders will take over Jack Hammett Sports Complex, the training-camp home of the Chargers for the last decade, for several weeks during the summer.
It’s a short-term deal that will make the Raiders one of five teams to hold their training camp in Southern California. The other clubs holding workouts in the area are the Chargers, Rams, Saints and Cowboys.
Contact Adam Hill at ahill@reviewjournal.com. Follow @AdamHillLVRJ on X.
