Chicago Bears return to Olivet’s campus for 2013 training camp

For the 12th consecutive year, the Chicago Bears professional football team will hold its Training Camp on the campus of Olivet Nazarene University. Practices open to the public begin on Friday, July 26, and continue as scheduled through Tuesday, August 13, 2013. Fans are welcomed to watch the team practice during scheduled times, and there is no admission charge.

“Having this opportunity to work with an outstanding professional sports organization never loses its excitement,” said Gary Griffin, Olivet’s director of alumni and university relations. “This year is no exception as we begin working with Marc Trestman, the team’s new head coach.”

A complete schedule and list of special theme days is available at ChicagoBears.com, along with the team’s official mobile app for Android, iPhone/iPod Touch and Blackberry devices.

Bears Training Camp brings 75,000 to 100,000 people to the greater Kankakee area each summer. In addition to having opportunities to meet and interact with the players, fans also frequent the many restaurants, shopping and lodging options available to them.

Breaking news about the team and players, camp events and other activities is reported by Chicago media, the third largest media market in the country. A variety of sports media and other news organizations, including ESPN, NFL News, Comcast SportsNet, Fox Chicago, WBBM Newsradio, 670 The Score Chicago Sportsradio, Chicago Tribune, ChicagoNow.com, WindyCityGridiron.com and The Daily Journal, also report from Bourbonnais.

Chicago Bears’ George Halas founded professional football in 1920 and led the move to form the American Professional Football Association, which later became the NFL. His first team, the Decatur Staleys, became the Chicago Bears. The team’s history includes nine World Championships and more than 700 victories on the field. To date, 27 from this organization have been named to the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

Olivet Nazarene University is an accredited Christian, liberal arts university offering more than 100 areas of undergraduate and graduate study, including the Doctor of Education in ethical leadership. Olivet has one main campus in Bourbonnais, Ill. — just 50 miles south of Chicago; three additional sites: Rolling Meadows and Oak Brook, Ill., and Hong Kong; and more than 100 School of Graduate and Continuing Studies learning locations throughout Chicagoland and the Midwest. From Oxford to Tokyo, hundreds of Olivet students also experience the global classroom each year, whether through study abroad opportunities or worldwide mission trips.

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