St Louis Makes Most Sense for the Rams

If you have been following any stadium news at all, I’m sure you’ve read more than a few articles over the past two weeks about many different topics regarding the NFL returning to Los Angeles. You might have read that many LA citizens were interviewed about the possible return of NFL to their city, in which many were not that enthused. You also might have read about how the NFL met with the Stadium task force in St. Louis about keeping the Rams in their current city.

I notice it every day on my twitter feed, constantly going back and forth, good news bad news, and it can get a little confusing sometimes. I’m not sure what goes on behind the doors of big business or how the NFL industry works behind the closed meetings, but I do know that statistically, St Louis has earned the right to keep their St Louis Rams.

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St. Louis may rank 31st in attendance, but do not be fooled, this is a team that has not had a winning season since 2003, and has had one of the worst records in the NFL in that 11 year span. So expecting the Rams to lead in attendance isn’t a very sane thing to do after years of terrible football. The fans have however, kept attendance at a very consistent rate. If you go back and look at the Rams attendance over the last five years, you will notice that the attendance is always in the 50-60 thousand range, even when the team is 3-12 heading into the last game.

I have no quabble with LA, (Lakers are my NBA team) but the numbers just aren’t that consistent, or really in their favor, for example:

The population of Los Angeles in 1984 was just over 7.4 million for the Metropolitan area, which was easily one of the biggest markets in that era. The Rams that season were all over the board in attendance despite having one of the best records in football. They opened at 65,000 against the Dallas Cowboys, only to come back the following week with a mediocre 43,000 against the Cleveland Browns. Then up to 53,000 against the Giants. The full list below:

Game 1: Vs Cowboys —- 65,403

Game 2: Vs Browns —– 43,043

Game 3: Vs Giants —– 53,417

Game 4: Vs Falcons —– 47,832

Game 5: Vs 49ers —- 65,481

Game 6: Vs Bears —– 62,021

Game 7: Vs Saints —– 49,348

Game 8: Vs Oilers —- 49,092

Now sure there were some bright spots. The only issue is, the three games where they actually had 60,000 or more were games that had some pretty arguably padded stats. The Cowboys were America’s Team at the time, so obviously any game they played in would be packed, and the 49ers were very close, so why wouldnt fans make the trip down? The Bears are another team that makes complete sense, huge fan base from all over the country, the game will sell more tickets than a normal game.

What’s concerning are the games against the lesser-known teams. Other than the three games mentioned above, the average attendance was in the 40,000 range, which is extremely mediocre for a team that made the playoffs. What was the attendance in the one playoff game? 67,037. This adds to the stereotype that many people blame LA for, they will support the team, if they win.

Not entirely though, they really didn’t support the team much even when they did win. Lets look at the 1984 Minnesota Vikings attendance:

Game 1: Vs Chargers —- 57,276

Game 2: Vs Falcons —- 53,955

Game 3: Vs Seahawks —- 57,171

Game 4: Vs Lions —- 57,953

Game 5: Vs Buccaneers —- 54,949

Game 6: Vs Bears —- 56,881

Game 7: Vs Redskins —- 55,017

Game 8: Vs Packers —- 51,197

The Minnesota Vikings had a record of 3-13 that season. The Vikings had also finished in last place the previous year. Every game is at least 50,000. Despite their population being almost an 1/8th of what the Metro Los Angeles population was.

Even when you look at the Rams over the past few seasons, they always stay in the 55,000 range every season. The St Louis Metropolitan area only has a population of just under 3 million, less than half of what Los Angeles had in 1984. The Rams fans show up every game, whether it is against a great team like the Packers, or against a lower ranked team like Jacksonville. Which is a great example, because over 54,000 people attended a game in 2013 that was held against the Jaguars, a game in which many critics I know called, “the toilet bowl”.

There are so many factors right now that makes sense for the Rams to stay in St. Louis. One of the bigger issues that is a red flag is the possibility of another NFL franchise coming to St Louis. This won’t work for many reasons. The NFL cannot have four teams in the California market. For one, it doesn’t make sense to, and Roger Goodell has already expressed he doesn’t want that many teams in the area. So if the Rams were to move, someone would have to take their place. This wouldn’t work for two reasons:

The Oakland Raiders are just not good fit in St. Louis, with Kansas City being right across the state, I can vouch that there just aren’t that many Raiders fans here in Missouri. Actually on the contrary, there is a mass number of people here who actually hate the Raiders, to a major extent in some cases.

So that just leaves the Chargers. The reason San Diego wouldn’t work in St. Louis is just simply that St Louis is fed up with their team moving. I asked a local sports store here in Missouri, a store in which is run by one of my good friends, to start asking people what they thought about the Rams leaving. The answers he received were not kind. the general consensus is that if the Rams leave, they will not support another NFL team. And why should they? They’ve been loyal, and had to watch their team leave already once. The NFL cannot just drop teams in St. Louis willy-nilly and expect them to welcome every team with open arms. Especially after what St. Louis fans have endured last 11 years.

St Louis has supported a horrific team better than Los Angeles did supporting a playoff team. I am not saying that LA wouldn’t welcome the Rams with open arms, but I am saying that St Louis has more than earned their right to keep them.

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