![2011 photo by Richard A. Lipski/The Washington Post.](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/web/20130126103737im_/http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/dc-sports-bog/files/2013/01/redskinspark113a.jpg)
2011 photo by Richard A. Lipski/The Washington Post.
This passage comes from a Rich Campbell Washington Times story last June:
Players who have experience with other teams can attest that Redskins Park has fallen behind the times. The weight room is small. The meeting rooms are basic. There’s no in-house cafeteria. The training room lacks equipment found in newer facilities. Overall, one could argue that the Redskins’ 20-year-old facility puts them at a competitive disadvantage…..
“You want a state-of-the-art weight room,” Mike Shanahan said at the time. “You want state-of-the-art meeting rooms, the technology that some of these new teams have, we want to have that ability as well. We want free agents to come here and say, ‘Hey, what a great facility. I can see me coming here and getting better as a football player.’ And obviously we get better as an organization.”
Now, I can’t say I’ve heard a lot about any of these issues since then. But Larry Michael addressed the topic on Comcast SportsNet’s Redskins Nation this week. His remarks came during the “Fan Forum” segment, when he answers e-mails from viewers. Here’s how that went.
“First e-mail of the day, Rob in Wake Forest, North Carolina,” Michael said. “He says, ‘Larry we’ve all heard about the need for a new field at the stadium, but I was wondering when those improvements to Redskins Park will take place? Is there a timetable? I’m very disappointed that we’re not building a state-of-the-art facility from scratch. I just hope these improvements will turn Redskins Park into a facility to be admired. Keep up the good work. HTTR. Rob in Wake Forest, North Carolina.’
“There’s nothing WRONG with the current building here at Redskins Park,” Michael then said. “I mean, would everybody like a bigger office? I mean, would everybody like some improvements? Of course. But there’s no timetable set. And I’m not gonna share it with you on this show. But I will say this: think about what has to happen down in Richmond to get that location ready for training camp, and training camp is headed down to Richmond, Virginia this summer, towards the end of July….There’s a lot of work that has to be done [for training camp], and we’ll keep you posted as it gets lined up.
“But there’s nothing wrong with this building. We love this studio. We love the proximity to the players here, the proximity to Mike Shanahan’s office. I mean, we even let Chick Hernandez use the studio we like it so much.”
Then he moved on to the next question.
So Rich Campbell says, “Redskins Park has fallen behind the times.” And Larry Michael says, “there’s nothing wrong with this building.” Those would seem to contradict each other.