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At a time when more and more NFL teams are conducting training camp at their in-season (and offseason) practice facilities, count the Eagles among the group that will continue to go off-site.

The team announced that training camp will remain at Lehigh University, at least through 2013.

“Lehigh University has been an incredible partner of ours, and we couldn’t be more excited about returning for an 18th training camp in 2013,” Eagles president Don Smolenski said. “They provide us with first-class accommodations year in and year out — not only for the players, coaches and staff, but also for the thousands of fans who attend the practices every day. We have a great relationship with Lehigh as evidenced by the communication we had through the lockout last season, which allowed us to hit the ground running once football activities resumed. We’re looking forward to another successful summer at Lehigh.”

The Eagles started holding training camp at Lehigh in 1996, two years after the team was purchased by Jeffrey Lurie.

Though it makes sense from a cost standpoint to conduct training camp at the first-rate practice accommodations most if not all teams already have, the limited duration of the offseason program and the limited contact in training camp could make the old-fashioned approach more valuable.