Considered by many a long shot to host the Chicago Bears summer camp, NIU still finds itself in the hunt.

Olivet Nazarene in Bourbonnais, Millikin University in Decatur and Eastern Illinois University in Charleston join NIU as finalists among 12 sites initially considered for the Bears camp. The finalists were announced Friday.

The Bears will hold their last training camp at Platteville, Wis., starting July 20 and will move to a new site next summer. DeKalb was home to the Bears summer camp in 1963.

Sites eliminated from consideration by the Bears were Rockford College, Southern Illinois University at Carbondale and Edwardsville, the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana, Monmouth College, Knox College in Galesburg, Illinois State University in Normal and the abandoned Air Force base in Rantoul.

Team officials, including president Ted Phillips, plan to make follow-up visits to the sites between today and May 21 and could make a final decision by the end of May.

Bill McGrane, the Bears’ director of administration, told the Associated Press that the four finalists offer the best opportunity for the Bears to reach their

preparation goals heading into a football season.

One thing that could count against NIU is that its own freshmen football players have to report for practice at the beginning of August — right in the middle of the Bears’ summer training camp. The only other site with the same problem would be Eastern Illinois. Olivet Nazarene is a NAIA school, while Millikin is a NCAA Division III program.

According to the Chicago Bears Report, the Bears summer camp would have an estimated $1.5 million annual impact on the economy of the chosen location.