Old Training Camp May See Some Action Again

What should the city of Oxnard do with an empty 6,000-square-foot building and two football fields, now going to seed, that the city built for more than $1 million in 1985 as a training camp for the likes of Howie Long, Tim Brown and other, ahem, Los Angeles Raiders?

The Raiders came, they trained and they moved back to Northern California in 1995. The L.A. Raiders no longer exist, but the fields, the facility and the $135,000-per-year mortgage are still here.

But football may be coming back to town.

Former NFL star running back Chuck Muncie wants to use the facility for fantasy football camps, and two other organizations also hope to lease it.

Tonight, the Oxnard City Council will meet in a closed session to consider their options: Rent it or sell it.

They will hear three proposals to lease the three-plus-acre site near Vineyard Avenue and Ventura Road. The closed session will be followed with a public one at 7 at Oxnard City Hall.

“We’re also hoping to find out the direction the City Council wants to take--a long lease, short lease, sell or not,” said Jim Fabian, Oxnard’s financial services manager. “It sat vacant, but it has been used as a soccer camp and a Southern California band camp. At this point, we’re just seeking information on what the council wants to do.”

The International Foursquare Church wants to turn the building into Oxnard’s fourth Foursquare Church, said Steve Abraham, who will be the senior pastor of the new church.

A company called Turner & Turner Investment Assn. wants to lease the building and rent it out for banquets.

The third proposal is for the fantasy football camp, which would be run by Muncie of Oxnard, an ex-San Diego Charger and New Orleans Saint who once held the Chargers record for rushing touchdowns--19 in 1981. He established the Chuck Muncie Youth Foundation in Ventura County a few years ago and worked for a time as director of the Port Hueneme Boys & Girls Club.

“We might run two or three fantasy camps a year--people could come for a couple of weeks,” said Muncie, still trim at 44. “Sort of on the order of the Dodger fantasy baseball camp in Florida. Adults would pay to train in the old Raider training facility and play with current and former professional football players. And they’d have the hotel [Marriott] right next door. They could bring their kids.”

Muncie said that after the adults have paid and played on the field, the off time could be used for kids’ baseball and soccer games, and perhaps basketball.

Muncie, who grew up in Pennsylvania, is the youngest of four brothers, all of whom played pro ball in the NFL.

“And this would be open to the public, not like the Raiders, who curtained everything off,” said Ron Stevens, the foundation’s executive vice president. “The money the foundation would make from this would allow us to do more youth programs.”