Texans to let fans watch practice!

Texans to let in fans for 8 night practices

By CARLTON THOMPSON
Copyright 2002 Houston Chronicle

The Texans released their training-camp practice schedule Monday and announced that fans will be allowed to attend eight night sessions at no charge.

During the course of the monthlong training camp, the Texans will have two-a-day workouts every other day in most cases, with a 7:05 p.m. start time scheduled for the second workout. The morning practices are set for 8:45 a.m., and the Texans will hit the practice fields at 3 p.m. on the days when they have a single workout.

Because of heat considerations and logistical challenges, the daytime workouts will be closed to the public. The Texans will utilize their indoor practice facility to beat the heat, and the climate-controlled bubble is not spacious enough to accommodate fans.

Another consideration in closing the daytime practices was the rotation of the three outdoor natural-grass fields. To avoid excessive wear and tear on the fields, the Texans won't use all three fields in the same session.

Because the field located closest to Kirby Drive is the only one equipped with lights, it will be used for nighttime workouts only. That field also is the one situated closest to the bleachers that will accommodate fans. Obviously, if the daytime workouts were open to the public, the layout of the facility would leave the fans far removed from the action on the other two fields.

"We always want to try to make it a pleasant experience for the fans," Texans owner Bob McNair said. "We don't want them to come out expecting to be right there on the sideline watching the team work out, and then they find out that the team has gone into the bubble and they can't even see them work out."

Tickets for the training-camp workouts will be distributed by Foley's. There will be a limit of six tickets per fan per session.

"We're going to have the cheerleaders, interactive games, concessions with food and beverages, a first-aid tent, cooling stations. It will be a fabulous experience for the fans," Texans senior vice president Jamey Rootes said.