Cheese League

The Cheese League was the informal name given to the National Football League teams that held their training camps and scrimmages in Minnesota and Wisconsin. The Cheese League reached its apex in 1995 with six NFL teams. Drawn by the milder summers, an escape from the distractions of home, and great facilities, these teams retreated to college towns in Wisconsin to prepare for the NFL season. The league had its strongest participation throughout the 1990s with five teams, peaking in 1995 with six teams thanks to the participation of the Jacksonville Jaguars for a single year. This proximity allowed the teams to practice with and scrimmage against one another - allowing for a nice change of pace and more realistic preparation for the regular season. Despite this perk, as well as the cooler summer weather, the non-local teams eventually decided that it was politically and logistically wiser to host training camp in their home states. With the Minnesota Vikings announcing that the 2017 training camp would be their last in Mankato, all six former members of the Cheese League will now hold camp in the same metro area that they are located.

Teams

Participation timeline

DateFormat = yyyy
ImageSize = width:800 height:auto barincrement:25
Period = from:1958 till:2019
TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal
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width:20 textcolor:black shift: anchor:from fontsize:s
bar:1 color:orange from:1958 till:2017 text:Green Bay Packers
bar:2 color:orange from:1966 till:2017 text:Minnesota Vikings
bar:3 color:orange from:1984 till:2001 text:Chicago Bears
bar:4 color:orange from:1988 till:1999 text:New Orleans Saints
bar:5 color:orange from:1991 till:2009 text:Kansas City Chiefs
bar:6 color:orange from:1995 till:1996 text:Jacksonville Jaguars
ScaleMajor = gridcolor:line unit:year increment:4 start:1958