Raiders training camp: Back to the future?

Pete Carroll indicates Silver and Black is headed back to Napa

It appears the new Las Vegas Raiders regime is planning to bring the team back to their Bay Area roots this summer.

While at the NFL scouting combine in Indianapolis, new Raiders coach Pete Carroll said while appearing on SiriusXM NFL Radio, that the team is planning to spend training camp in Napa, California at the Marriott this summer.

Multiple reports stated later that the plan has not been finalized and it’s not official. But it appears to be the way the team is headed. Training camp starts in late July, so there is no rush to finalize the plan.

This would be the team’s first training camp back in Napa in six years. The Raiders trained in Napa, which was always considered one of the very best training camp setups in the NFL, from 1996-2019.

The franchise was open to returning to Napa after its 2020 relocation to Las Vegas from Oakland, but COVID and other reasons kept the team at their Henderson, Nevada training facility for camp from 2020-23.

Under one-year general manager Tom Telesco, the Raiders trained in Costa Mesa, California for three weeks in 2024. Telesco’s Chargers trained there for several years.

Like the reasons to train there, teambuilding and cooler weather are probably reasons that this regime is interested in going to Napa.

Raiders star tight end Brock Bowers is from Napa and attended training camp there as a child. He will be a huge attraction. Carroll is also a Bay Area native. Expect Bay Area Raiders fans to fully embrace this move if it happens as expected.

It should be a fun summer.