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In a July 2011 photo, Westminster Mayor Kevin Utz surveys the empty football field at McDaniel College where the Ravens have practiced since 1996. Utz said this week's decision by the Ravens to move training camp from McDaniel College to Owings Mills will mean lost revenue for the city, but also a loss in visibility. (Amy Davis, Baltimore Sun / July 31, 2011) |
Westminster Mayor Kevin Utz, 54, recalls that when he was a young boy living on Bond Street, he and his brother would ride their bikes several blocks to the Baltimore Colts' training camp at then-Western Maryland College to watch their favorite players up close.
The Colts' camp, held in Westminster from 1953 to 1971, "wasn't as plush" as the camps the Baltimore Ravens have held at the school, now McDaniel College, over the past 15 years, he said.
But those summer days tied Westminster, and all of Carroll County, to Baltimore's football team.
Perhaps that's what hurts so much about the Ravens' decision that they won't be back to McDaniel College in 2012, he said.
"It's almost a 50-year tradition that's being broken," said Utz. "That's the sad part about it."
On Friday, Dec. 2, the Ravens announced the team would hold its 2012 camp at its Owings Mills headquarters, severing a tie with Westminster that's been in place since the team arrived in Baltimore in 1996.
Utz actually shares a boyhood memory with Ravens owner Steve Bisciotti, who said in the team's announcement that he, too, recalled fond days visiting the Colts in Westminster.
"Some of my best memories as a kid are my family's visits to the Colts' training camp in Westminster," said Bisciotti, who suggested that such memories made for a "difficult" decision to move the Ravens' camp.
Buzz around town
Utz said he learned of the team's decision Friday from a reporter, then began receiving calls in waves from Westminster city offices as people called about the news.
"It's most disappointing for us in the city," said Utz. "A lot of fans came into our town and enjoyed us being the host city. I know a lot of restaurants and vendors benefited from it.
"I don't know that anybody's ever been able to quantify (the economic impact)," he said.
But he was certain Main Street businesses, hotels and other outlets saw an uptick during the summer weeks when the Ravens were in town.
But profit was not the sole benefit, he said.
"It's almost more of a blow to the community," he said. "There's a notoriety — when sportscasters are all mentioning Westminster as the place where the Ravens are training. Not being mentioned... will certainly have an impact on our city.
"We're not going to be negative about it," he said, "but it is devastating."
Dr. Ethan Seidel, vice president of administration and finance at McDaniel College who was involved in the negotiations with the Ravens, said the two sides spoke as recently as last week.
"It must have been a tough decision for them, because I know the fan base is very important to them, but they see their first obligation as being successful as a team," he said.
Seidel, who said in October that the two sides were trying to hammer out a long-term deal, knew the team had been considering moving camp to its headquarters in Owings Mills since the Ravens completed their Baltimore County training facility in 2004.
In announcing the decision, the Ravens said the team had outgrown the Westminster college and its nearby accommodations, and that the Owings Mills site allowed more flexibility in bad weather.
