Eastern may get some major league treatment if the Chicago Bears decide to move its training camp here.

Coles Together is committed to giving Eastern $50,000 for any improvement the Chicago Bears’ officials need to move the training camp to Eastern, said Jeanne Gustafson, the Coles Together executive director. Bears officials can do anything they see fit with the money for fixing up the facilities or adding anything that the players may need.

“Eastern Illinois University has been a great ally for Coles Together, and we would like to return the favor,” she said.

Officials from the Chicago Bears visited campus on Tuesday to see if Eastern’s facilities are appropriate for the Bears’ training camp. Eastern is one of 10 Illinois schools where the Bears may relocate its typically Platteville, Wis., based training camp.

Studies that Coles Together did on other sites of professional football training camps revealed that the camps can be a tremendous boost to a town’s economy, Gustafson said.

A professional football training camp brings from about 15,000 to 43,000 people in a three to four week span of time, and those people are known to spend an average of 2.7 days in town.

Gustafson said the Bears coming to town would be an extremely positive experience for Charleston as well as Coles County. It could make Charleston a more marketable town because the people who will come will need lodging, food and entertainment in this area.

The training camp also would bring about 100 to 170 new jobs to the area and may offer some internship programs for students.

The Bears officials are expected to make a final decision

on their college pick by July, Gustafson said.

If the Bears do not move their training camp to Charleston, the $50,000 will go back into the Coles Together reserve fund.