The Cheese League was the informal name given to the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ma ...

teams that held their

training camp A training camp is an organized period in which military personnel or athletes participate in a rigorous and focused schedule of training in order to learn or improve skills. Athletes typically utilise training camps to prepare for upcoming events, ...

s and scrimmages in

Minnesota Minnesota () is a state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the List of U.S. states and territories by population, 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minne ...

and

Wisconsin Wisconsin () is a state in the upper Midwestern United States. Wisconsin is the 25th-largest state by total area and the 20th-most populous. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake M ...

. The Cheese League reached its apex in 1995 with six NFL teams. Drawn by the milder summers, an escape from the distractions of home, and great facilities, these teams retreated to college towns in

to prepare for the NFL season. The league had its strongest participation throughout the 1990s with five teams, peaking in 1995 with six teams thanks to the participation of the Jacksonville Jaguars for a single year. This proximity allowed the teams to practice with and scrimmage against one another - allowing for a nice change of pace and more realistic preparation for the regular season. Despite this perk, as well as the cooler summer weather, the non-local teams eventually decided that it was politically and logistically wiser to host training camp in their home states. With the Minnesota Vikings announcing that the 2017 training camp would be their last in Mankato, all six former members of the Cheese League will now hold camp in the same metro area that they are located.

Teams

Participation timeline

DateFormat = yyyy ImageSize = width:800 height:auto barincrement:25 Period = from:1958 till:2019 TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal PlotArea = right:140 left:20 bottom:20 top:0 Colors = id:barcolor value:rgb(0.99,0.7,0.7) id:line value:black id:bg value:white PlotData= width:20 textcolor:black shift:(5,-5) anchor:from fontsize:s bar:1 color:orange from:1958 till:2017 text:

Green Bay Packers The Green Bay Packers are a professional American football team based in Green Bay, Wisconsin. The Packers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the National Football Conference (NFC) North division. It is the th ...

(1958–present) bar:2 color:orange from:1966 till:2017 text:

Minnesota Vikings The Minnesota Vikings are a professional American football team based in Minneapolis. They compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the National Football Conference (NFC) North division. Founded in 1960 as an expansio ...

(1966–2017) bar:3 color:orange from:1984 till:2001 text:

Chicago Bears The Chicago Bears are a professional American football team based in Chicago. The Bears compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) North division. The Bears have won nine ...

(1984–2001) bar:4 color:orange from:1988 till:1999 text:

New Orleans Saints The New Orleans Saints are a professional American football team based in New Orleans. The Saints compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) South division. Since 1975, the te ...

(1988–1999) bar:5 color:orange from:1991 till:2009 text:

Kansas City Chiefs The Kansas City Chiefs are a professional American football team based in Kansas City, Missouri. The Chiefs compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) West division. The t ...

(1991-2009) bar:6 color:orange from:1995 till:1996 text:

Jacksonville Jaguars The Jacksonville Jaguars are a professional American football team based in Jacksonville, Florida. The Jaguars compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (AFC) South division. The team pla ...

(1995) ScaleMajor = gridcolor:line unit:year increment:4 start:1958

References

{{Green Bay Packers Chicago Bears History of the Green Bay Packers Minnesota Vikings Jacksonville Jaguars Kansas City Chiefs New Orleans Saints