The editorial is the opinion of the editorial board of The Daily Eastern News.

So you say there is nothing to do in Charleston? That the only extracurricular activities are drinking at the bars and drinking at the bars? That this tiny little town has no appeal for students, and tourists, from metropolitan areas?

Funny, but for some reason, a National Football League team seems to disagree with you.

Eastern officials had the chance to show off the campus and its athletic facilities to representatives from the Chicago Bears organization this week. And from the looks of it, the Bears were impressed with what they saw here.

No one would argue that having a professional sports team on campus training for professional football would be a bad thing. Charleston has the opportunity to be in the national sports spotlight again after the men’s basketball team’s appearance in the NCAA tournament.

With all this attention, Charleston and Coles County have something in common: they want the Bears to come to Eastern because, where there are Bears, there are people. And where there are people, there is sure to be money.

One local organization, Coles Together, has earmarked $50,000 for any improvements that Eastern may need in order to host a professional sports team.

Coles Together has the right idea. If they invest a little bit of money, they have the potential to have a huge return. Everyone who has an interest in the Bears using Eastern’s facilities knows they are receiving more than just a professional football team. They will host thousands of fans each year who may have never even heard of Charleston.

If the Bears do decide that Eastern is the place for their training camps, everyone will benefit. That is why at this point local civic organizations and Eastern officials need to do everything possible to lure the NFL franchise to Eastern’s campus.

There isn’t any doubt about the amount of tourism Charleston and Coles County would receive each year if the Bears decide to hold training camp here. And when tourism increases, so does the revenue of local business. When local businesses are making more profit, that is more tax money Charleston is receiving.

Recent projections by Coles Together show that if the camp is stationed at Eastern it could bring 15,000 to 43,000 people to the area in a four-week period each year.

With numbers like these, there isn’t any doubt that the Chicago Bears would be an asset to the community at large.