Western Courier

Issue date: 4/2/08 Section: Sports

Fans pack Hanson Field during St. Louis Rams training camp.

A St. Louis Rams player signs autographs for fans when the Rams held their training camp at Western Illinois University.

When the St. Louis Rams made the decision in 2004 to end a nine-year relationship of holding training camp in Macomb, Mayor Mick Wisslead made sure no bridges had been burned. The move paid off because Macomb is once again on the short list for potential hosts for the Rams 2008 summer training camp.

Other possible hosts are the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point and Missouri State University in Springfield, Mo. Wisslead said he will be meeting with the Rams more in the future and will know by the end of April or early May if the Rams will return to Macomb. However, according to Director of Residential Facilities Matt Bierman, it is probably a 50/50 chance between Macomb and Whitewater.

Bierman served as training camp coordinator for the Rams at Western from 1999-2004. During that time, he said the Rams "loved" being in Macomb and he had very few problems with the team. He said they left because they wanted to appeal to their St. Louis fan base more and allow veterans to stay close to home.

"They always said at that time with that administration if they were going to do a training camp off-site, they would always come back to Macomb," Bierman said.

The Dick Vermeil and Mike Martz days have come and gone and second-year head coach Scott Linehan is now in charge. Linehan recently told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch he wanted to go to an off-site location "where we can work as a team and hopefully work with another team for a few days prior to the opening of the preseason."

And Macomb offers just that.

One summer, Wisslead said he recalls a friend of his running into Marshall Faulk at the Sunrise Café in the morning. Faulk asked him if it was safe to jog anywhere in Macomb - it was hard to respond with a straight face.

Kim Pierce, Executive Director of the Macomb Area Economic Development Corporation, said she has had several conversations with Linehan about coming back to Macomb.

"(Linehan) thinks that coming to an off-site training facility versus Rams park will help him get that team environment built back up," Pierce said. "The environment here is more conducive to building a team environment."

MADECO has been working with the university and Wisslead's office since January 2007 to attract the Rams back. Pierce said that Western, however, is the key player in getting the Rams back.

"If there wasn't the university, Macomb would not even be in the picture," Pierce said.

The economic impact the Rams bring to the city cannot be denied. Pierce said when the Rams were here before, they brought in approximately $750,000 in revenue.

"It will bring people into the community, which means dollars being spent and taxes being collected," Pierce said.

Pierce added that having an NFL franchise enhances Macomb's marketability.

"When we're marketing Macomb to any business we can say that we are the NFL summer training camp of the Rams and everyone identifies with that," Pierce said.

Bierman said he recalls anywhere from 1,500 to 2,000 people came to watch practices. He added that when the Tennessee Titans and Bears scrimmaged the Rams in Macomb, more than 15,000 people were at Hanson Field.

If the Rams do come to Western, they will be housed in Thompson Hall for proximity and living condition purposes. According to Bierman, they would arrive anywhere from July 20-24 and stay for three weeks. No students will be living in Thompson during that time.

Although the Rams pay Western to stay at Thompson Hall, Bierman said " (the university) doesn't make money on the training camp. We gain from notoriety and exposure."

The final selling point, according to Wisslead, is for the Rams to simply look at their record when they trained in Macomb from 1996-2004, and when they trained in St. Louis the past four years. From 1996 to 2003, the Rams were 71-67, but from 2004 to 2007 they were 25-39.

"They really haven't had much success since they left," Wisslead said.

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