Cowboys returning to California for camp after COVID pause

FRISCO, Texas — The Dallas Cowboys are headed back to California for training camp after the pandemic kept them home last year.

The club said Tuesday its first practice will be in Oxnard on July 22, and fans will be allowed. The Cowboys had gone to Oxnard every year since 2012 before COVID-19 prompted the NFL to order all teams to stay home for camp in 2020.

Dallas will return to California after playing the Hall of Fame exhibition game against Pittsburgh in Canton, Ohio, on Aug. 5. The Cowboys break camp Aug. 12 before a preseason game at Arizona.

The final two weeks of preseason practice will be at team headquarters north of Dallas, where all of camp was held last year without fans because of coronavirus restrictions. It was the first time the Cowboys held all of training camp at home.

This will be the 15th camp in Oxnard, second to neighboring Thousand Oaks for the most visits by the Cowboys. Dallas trained in Thousand Oaks for 27 consecutive years before moving camp to Austin in 1990, a year after owner Jerry Jones bought the team. The club returned to California in 2001.


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