Washington Redskins training camp to be built behind Science Museum of Virginia

Call me cynical, but the recent announcement that the Washington Redskins summer training camp will be moved behind the Virginia Science Museum on a vacant piece of land sounds like a line from a dark comedy about a society that no longer values science, at least not nearly as much as it values its professional sports teams and their accompanying streams of revenue.


The creation of the vacant land into a training facility suitable for the Washington Redskins will be generated by a $40 million private investment. Also included in this development package are two different sites that will reportedly create over 200 jobs.

After the announcement in June was made that the Washington Redskins would be moving its summer training camp to Richmond, Mayor Dwight C. Jones established an 18-member “steering committee” that comprised local business leaders. The committee ultimately decided that 17 acres of undeveloped state property behind the museum would be the best location for the training facility.

The committee sent the measure to be reviewed by the Richmond City Council on Monday without a recommendation on approval.

The irony of putting an athletic training facility behind one of Virginia’s most popular centers for learning probably never even crossed the minds of the 18-member committee, or if there was any consideration for these consequences, it was most likely ignored.

But the symbolic value of creating a training facility behind the Science Museum of Virginia cannot be ignored. While Virginia and the rest of the country appear to be continually falling behind in science and mathematics to the rest of the world , one thing America is not lacking is an enthusiasm for professional sports.

While there is nothing wrong with enjoying professional sports, Americans may be doing so at the expense or in place of learning math and science skills. And what better way to illustrate this phenomenon than by putting a training camp facility behind a science museum?

One could argue that the training camp will bring MORE individuals to the Science Museum of Virginia, but this is far from certain.

It may be an overreaction on my part, but the location of the new Redskins training camp could also be a symptom of a larger problem, namely, the waning enthusiasm for going down the road of hard science.

References   http://www2.timesdispatch.com/news/news/2012/oct/22/tdmain01-redskins-summer-training-camp-coming-to-s-ar-2301224/

http://www2.timesdispatch.com/news/news/2012/oct/22/tdmain01-redskins-summer-training-camp-coming-to-s-ar-2301224/

http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0923110.html