NFL Team and Oxnard Near an Agreement

City officials are close to signing a deal to have the Dallas Cowboys conclude their summer training schedule in Oxnard.

For the second time in a month, representatives of the five-time Super Bowl champs were in the seaside town, scouting the fields and facilities available before moving 150 staff and team members to Oxnard for two weeks in August.

A well-placed NFL source said Thursday the Oxnard deal should be done any day now.

But the team remains officially tight-lipped on its plans.

“We won’t make any announcement on the team camp until a deal is finalized,” said Rich Dalrymple, a Cowboys’ spokesman.

Team representatives spent three days this week with business leaders, including heads of the Oxnard Convention and Visitors Bureau, Chamber of Commerce and city officials.

After inspecting the two football fields and a fieldhouse the team would use at the Residence Inn by Marriott, the Cowboys’ representatives toured Channel Islands Harbor, saw the Oxnard Center for the Performing Arts and drove about the historic downtown section.

Russ Olney, president of the Greater Oxnard Chamber of Commerce, said he believes the Cowboy officials have made up their minds.

“They said there is a date they will be here but they did say, ‘Do not tell anyone that this is official,’ ” said Olney, who met Cowboy representatives Monday.

If they do come, the team is expected to be in Oxnard from Aug. 13-25, business leaders said. The team would stay at the 252-room Residence Inn by Marriott, in north Oxnard.

Olney said Cowboys’ officials told him it would cost the franchise about $1 million to bring the team to Oxnard.

“If you take away the air fare, we are talking probably several hundred thousand dollars being spent in the local economy,” Olney said.

The Cowboys want a less sweltering place to spend the final two weeks of summer training. Their current facility in Wichita Falls, Texas, routinely hits triple digits in late August.

“I think they are ready to do it,” said Michael Henderson, Oxnard’s superintendent of parks and facilities, who also met with team representatives. “I know they are talking about making a decision by the end of March. They need to see if it makes sense economically.”

Henderson and the Cowboys talked about the condition of the fields and the fieldhouse, which has showers and 100 lockers. Weeds need cutting and gopher holes need to be filled, but parks officials said the practice fields could be ready in less than a month.

Also discussed was possible publicity and promotion campaigns with the team, said Carol Lavender, executive director of the Oxnard Convention and Visitors Bureau. One such campaign could involve the Cowboys’ preseason game against the Oakland Raiders Aug. 27 in Mexico City, business leaders said.

Lavender said the Cowboys’ representatives were pleased with their tour of the city.

“They are looking for things for the team to do. They were interested in the harbor and they loved the green grass. They said they liked our weather and the fields. They were very enthusiastic.”

The Cowboys first came to Oxnard last month to look over the fields but now seem as interested in the rest of the city. NFL sources said they initially considered potential sites at Cal State Fullerton and Cal State Long Beach.

Oxnard officials say the Cowboys promised to be community friendly, unlike the Oakland Raiders, whose players conducted summer training in the city from 1985-1995 when the team was the Los Angeles Raiders. (The team moved to L.A. in 1982 and back to Oakland before the 1995 season.) The Raiders refused to let the public watch practices, did not interact with local leaders and wrapped a black tarp around the practice field to shield players from prying eyes.

The city, which spent $1 million to design and prepare the two fields, fieldhouse and the nearby Residence Inn, charged the Raiders just $1 annually to rent the 4-acre parcel.

When the Cowboys practiced at Cal Lutheran University in Thousand Oaks from 1963 to 1989, the team had a reputation for openness, said Linda Paige Fulford, spokeswoman for the college. She said the team signed autographs, allowed the public to watch practices and interacted with community leaders.

Spending the last two weeks of the team’s 4 1/2-week training schedule in a seaside location would give players a break from the heat and a chance to be fresh for their first regular season game Sept. 9.

Team representatives met with Doug Pflaumer, general manager of the Residence Inn by Marriott, on Wednesday.

Pflaumer said if the Cowboys decide to practice in Oxnard, the team would probably use 80 rooms with two people in each. The room rates range from $125 to $145 a night. If the team used 80 rooms, the hotel could earn between $140,000 and $162,400 in two weeks, excluding food and services.

“We are still negotiating to get them here,” Pflaumer said. “I feel positive about it, but nothing has been signed. They said if this went well they might come out every year.”