Thursday, Aug 15, 2013 05:09 AM

Dallas Cowboys to keep splitting time between Texas, Calif.

OXNARD, Calif. -- Jerry Jones has some good news for the California training home of his Dallas Cowboys: The owner wants to keep coming back even after the opening of a Texas facility that could easily replace Oxnard.

"This isn't light to me coming out here to Southern California, like we're trying to experiment over here," Jones said upon his return to the West Coast after a quick trip home to announce plans for a new headquarters and practice facility in suburban Frisco. "We've been doing this for how many years now? This is what we ought to be doing. And we're working right now on trying to extend it."

The Cowboys first held training camp in California 50 years ago, and they've done so more than 30 times since then. Jones was actually the first owner to put training camp in Texas when he moved it from a longtime home in Thousand Oaks, Calif., to Austin in 1990.

Dallas will definitely be in Oxnard next year, and the Cowboys hold a three-year option beyond that. Frisco's $115 million deal to build an indoor stadium and headquarters for the Cowboys includes a requirement to hold at least one week of training camp each year in the Dallas area.

After the Cowboys break camp here on Friday, they stop in Arizona for their third preseason game before going home for two more weeks of camp-style practices. When they train in California, they generally schedule two preseason games out West followed by a return to Texas.

"You can certainly function in each environment and be successful," Cowboys coach Jason Garrett said. "I do think regardless of how you do training camp and where you do it, it's an important time to help your team bond. They're together. They eat meals with each other. You can create that environment at home. That's a really important piece of training camp."

Oxnard mayor Tim Flynn wants his city to consider building a training facility that could house the Cowboys or another NFL team and possibly other sports teams throughout the year.

"I'm not a sports analyst or team psychologist, but I think for the players to come to California, it does boost morale," Flynn said. "Even though they're working real hard, it's not a vacation for them, they do have some time off.

"It's the weather, the beach. It's Southern California. It's attracting a great fan base."