MANKATO, Minn. - The conversion to training camp has begun at Minnesota State University, Mankato, where the Minnesota Vikings will eat, sleep, and practice for two weeks when their official preseason practices begin on July 30.
"They provide us with a list of how they want the space set up, and we then set the space up accordingly," said Cindy Janney, Miknnesota State Mankato's director of residential life.
Two weeks before players show up, white boards ready to be filled with X's and O's during team meetings were rolling into Julia Sears, a shiny new dorm built in 2008.
Janney said the players will make modifications to the rooms equipped with lofted bunk beds for students.
"They typically work with vendors to bring in their own mattresses."
One player will stay in a room built for two students, although each player has to share a bathroom with a teammate. It would be luxurious by student standards, but perhaps a bit cramped for 260-pound linebackers.
Still, Janney said the Vikings bring their best behavior to training camp.
"I know everyone would love to hear a story about bad football player behavior," she said. "But I think they're so busy with training camp and probably so exhausted. We don't have concerns about their behavior."
Julia Sears, the dorm, also features central air conditioning, which is major improvement over the 1960s-era Gage Towers where the players stayed during previous camps and needed window units and fans to stay cool.
Carkoski Commons, the dining hall, won't need many modifications.
"For us, it's basically just another day," said dining manager Nathan Manthe. "There's no Jared Allen is a sloppy eater, or Adrian (Peterson) folds his napkin a certain way, or anything like that."
The players will walk through buffet lines, just like students, but the selections will be heavy on meat. And the team will add a smoothie machine.
Somewhat amazingly, Manthe said the players won't eat more than students.
"People think, well, you know, they're football players, (and) they're eating so much more food than everybody else," he said. "Really, they eat the same amount of food as the students do when they're here."
From the university's point of view, the biggest change during training camp is the interest that outsiders show when the big people wearing purple come to campus.
It takes a little traffic engineering to designate parking spaces for as many as a 2,000 visitors on nights when there's a big public event. Daily parking passes cost $7 each.
Brian Jones, Minnesota State Mankato's admissions director, sees it all as an opportunity.
"Countless visitors come through our office with the purple and gold apparel and make comments to us," he said. "Otherwise (they) wouldn't have thought to visit a college campus, particularly not this early in their child's career."
For Jones, training camp is marketing gold: an opportunity to show off the school to prospects who might not visit Mankato if it weren't for the Vikings.
"It's fantastic to have this many people in the (college) community, seeing the community on campus," he said.
Vikings camp is a good thing for the city, too.
The Greater Mankato Convention and Visitors Bureau says an average of 50,000 people visit town during training camp. The money they spend shopping, at restaurants, and at area attractions adds up to an economic impact of around $5 million.
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