It would be hard to fathom that, when Eastern agreed to terms with Turf USA, they envisioned the artificial surface as a gateway to hosting an NFL team’s training camp.

However, Assistant Athletic Director for Development John Smith said when they considered switching to turf, they definitely envisioned bringing an NFL team to campus.

When representatives from the Indianapolis Colts came to visit campus Tuesday, they cited the O’Brien playing surface as a big plus.

Indianapolis Head Coach Tony Dungy said one of the advantages of having field turf is players can play on, in any kind of weather.

Dungy also said his players fully approve of the field turf.

“We have it in our indoor facility and the players love it,” Dungy said.

Eastern Head Football Coach Bob Spoo agrees with Dungy. He said before Eastern had the turf, if they got a good hard rain, they wouldn’t be able to practice. Now that they have the artificial surface they can practice no matter what.

Smith said the NFL recently shortened training camp so teams cannot afford to lose any practice time.

If the Colts were to come to Charleston, it would be the first time in a while, Eastern will host an NFL training camp. They have been close to hosting two others in the past 25 years.

Most recently, when the Chicago Bears moved their training camp from Platteville, Wis., to Bourbonnais, Ill., a few years back, Eastern was in the running.

“The Bears came in and did a complete research of the facilities,” Smith said. “They were close to coming here.”

However, when representatives from the Bears asked Eastern if they had plans to install field turf and the response was no, the Bears chose Olivet Nazarene University.

The addition of the $500,000 ProGrass will make it that much harder for the Colts to turn Eastern down.

Long before the Bears expressed interest in using Eastern for its training camp, the St. Louis Cardinals, held their training camp here.

“We hosted the St. Louis Cardinals here for eight years,” Smith said.

The Cardinals training camp stint at Eastern started in the late 1970s and ended in the mid 1980s.

In between the Cardinals and the Bears visits with Eastern, the Colts actually looked at Eastern about five years ago but eventually chose the Rose Holman Institute of Technology over Eastern.

Although Eastern lost the Colts five years ago, it learned from the experience and now know what it has to do to make it happen this time.

“We can’t be equal because if we are, they’ll stay in Indiana,” Smith said. “We have to be head and shoulders better than our competition.”

Smith compared the Colts first visit to Eastern five years ago to a football game.

“We were down seven points with two minutes left to play, but we didn’t have the ball,” Smith said.

Smith believes his comparison ended with an outcome that was positive.

“We scored,” Smith said. “Unfortunately it’s still under review.”