"Napa Valley" Raiders

Here for the summer, gone for the season

The Oakland Raiders have their headquarters in Alameda, their stadium in Oakland, and they attend summer training in … Napa? 
    Since 1996, the Raiders have adopted 6 acres of land between the Napa Valley Marriott Hotel and Redwood Middle School in Napa for a summer training camp between football seasons. From the end of July to the end of August, the Raiders’ myriad staff, including trainers, coaches, medics and players, will stay at the Marriott, as they do every year, occupying nearly half of the hotel’s 274 guest rooms.
    Since the Raiders’ training camp only accommodates some 400 to 500 spectators, attendance is by invitation only. Schools, community outreach programs, charitable organizations and disadvantaged or disabled kids are typically invited, sometimes for special occasions, sometimes just for fun. “Schools have used it as an awards day,” says Raiders’ senior executive John Herrera. “If someone calls asking, ‘I’m with the Boys and Girls Club, can we bring out 25 kids?’—we usually accommodate that if it’s a possibility.”
    It is the close proximity to the Alameda headquarters, the support of the Napa community and moderate weather conditions that keep the Raiders coming back every year. “Most training camps are very hot and humid; Napa is very mild by comparison,” Herrera says. The weather is usually between 80 and 85 degrees with a little breeze, he says, “which is just perfect.”

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