Why I Miss Eagles Training Camp At Lehigh (And Long For A Return That's Never Coming)

The Eagles had training camp at Lehigh University from 1996 through 2012 before moving it to their own facilities. They created a generation of fans by going to Lehigh, which is lost on today's NFL.

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Training camp used to have a different vibe, one a generation of Eagles fans that live on social media fail to understand.

Many are excited for the start of Eagles training camp. The warm summer air, the pads hitting the sleds, the hour-plus of contact and updates how practice is going. I get it, it's exciting to an extent.

You know what would be cooler? Actually getting to watch your favorite players up close (which isn't on the camp schedule much).

That's what the Eagles provided to their fans for decades in the summer. That's what the NFL provided their fans for generations.

In case anyone wants to know why the NFL became so popular? The product on the field was good, but so was the ability to go watch your favorite players practice in the summer.

Training camp was for everyone. Eagles training camp at Lehigh University was free of charge for three weeks in the summer. There were merchandise tents and and stands for food and drinks, autograph tents for fans to mett their favorite players -- or any player.

I grew up watching football in a football household. My dad played and I followed in his footsteps. In my middle school years I dreamed of going through that grind that I was watching NFL players go through.

Seeing coaches yell "hit," players dragging as the hot sun was shining on them. If I was sweating, I couldn't imagine what an NFL player was going through. I had the opportunity to watch the best of the best do it for three hours twice a day and understood what it took when it was my turn to go through this when I got old enough.

Meeting players like Sean Morey, Lawrence Story, Jeremiah Trotter, Damon Moore, and Hugh Douglas -- whether they were stars on the Eagles or roster fillers -- made my year. This was part of the Lehigh experience, and why I was obsessed with football.

I got the opportunity to watch my favorite players up close, my favorite coaches up close, and the local team every day. My parents would sacrifice work days to take me up there and watch the Eagles, the team I would eventually watch on Sundays.

This is why I started watching the Eagles. Certainly wasn't because they were winning football games (but it got better when Andy Reid showed up).

Those days are long gone. In 2013, Chip Kelly took over as Eagles head coach and moved training camp back to Philadelphia nestled in the practice facilty.

I was a high school sports reporter then. The sports fan in me was still there, and I completely understood why the Eagles moved to their practice facility. The players had access to the best equipment, the best training rooms, the best care.

They got to sleep in their own beds, and not dorm rooms. The Eagles didn't have to pack up everything to make way for Lehigh. Everything made sense from the Eagles standpoint and a logistics standpoint.

What about the fans? Would they be able to watch training camp like they used to at Lehigh? And West Chester before that?

Fat chance.

With training camp in the cozy confines of the Jefferson Health Training Complex (then NovaCare Complex), there wasn't enough room for fans. The special few got to attend to a practice, whether it was season ticket holders that won a lottery, corporate big wigs and their families, or knowing someone that had access -- could be a friend or family of a player, a sponsor, or just someone in the know. These days influencers even get in.

The average fan wasn't priced out. They were shut out.

What happened to training camp at remote locations?

This isn't just the Eagles. This happened everywhere around the NFL. The majority of training camps are held in practice facilities or near the home base of the city.

Some teams still keep the old-school approach of going somewhere. The Kansas City Chiefs, Buffalo Bills, and Pittsburgh Steelers still do this -- and they have some of the most passionate fan bases in the NFL.

The Eagles have a diehard fan base and will always have one. That's the nature of Philadelphia.

Many fans of a new generation probably don't care the Eagles training camp is at their practice facility and they can't watch practice. That's all they know and they don't care -- as long as they win.

That wasn't always the case here. The Eagles didn't win on the regular. They went though quarterback after quarterback, Jeffrey Lurie wasn't the most beloved owner, and teh product wasn't the greatets year after year.

Being an Eagles fan wasn't trendy. The product on the field wasn't why people watched them.

Going to training camp in the Lehigh Valley helped cultivate a new generation of fans, an opportunity for people like me -- who lived an hour away from the city -- an opportunity to watch NFL players up close. The best of the best.

Those days are long gone, and they are never coming back. The Eagles are never taking camp out of Jefferson Health until a new state-of-the-art practice facility is built with a new stadium.

Perhaps fans can watch practice, or have more access to it. Times have obviously changed and everyone is recording everything on their phone, so maybe that won't be the case.

The Eagles haven't been to Lehigh in 14 years, but I still miss it. In an era where nostalgia rules, this is one piece of history that isn't coming back.

The product on the field is secondary, and so is the access to fans.