Major renovations at L.A. Memorial Coliseum are set to start after the '17 USC season and be completed in time for the '19 season, meaning that the Rams, who will play at the venue for the '16-18 NFL seasons, "will be gone and will not reap any financial benefits from the premium seats and other moneymaking opportunities," according to Richard Sandomir of the N.Y. TIMES. The Rams while at the Coliseum are "unlikely to put all 92,000 seats up for sale for every game; they will most likely sell about 70,000 tickets on a regular basis, although there might be demand to sell thousands more for special dates like season openers." The Rams and USC also "will mostly play on alternating weekends." However, Coliseum GM Joe Furin said that he "expected them to play games back-to-back on occasional Saturdays and Sundays." The Rams will be paying about 8% of gate receipts to USC as a tenant, as well as $5M to "defray its renovation costs." Those payments "should bolster" university finances. Since taking over Coliseum and Sports Arena operations in '13, the university "has generated deficits of nearly" $5M while "spending about half of that on improving the stadium's electrical and sewage systems." Meanwhile, outgoing USC AD Pat Haden said that the $270M Coliseum renovation has two goals, the first of which is to remove the video boards that have "'butchered' the Coliseum's signature architectural look." The second is to "bring some modernity to a facility that revels in its history." Renovations will "replace all of the seats (many are about a half-century old); add handrails, build a structure for luxury suites, club seats and a new press box; and improve wireless Internet connectivity and concession stands." Capacity will be "reduced to about 78,000" (N.Y. TIMES, 3/12).
HOME AWAY FROM HOME: Rams Owner Stan Kroenke on Friday noted that his team "will play international games in each of the next three seasons." Kroenke: "Over the next three years while we're building the stadium, we will be in London or we will be in one of those international games. It's good for us because we're here in the Coliseum. And frankly, it builds the Rams' brand" (L.A. TIMES, 3/12).
DOWN BY LAW: Rams Exec VP/Football Operations & COO Kevin Demoff noted that new language in contracts tendered to players "has been crafted to address the NFLPA's objection to the presence of a Missouri choice of law and forum provision, even though the Rams are moving to California." Demoff in an email wrote, "The team's legal move to California coincides with the start of the offseason program on April 18. As such, all contracts are still subject to Missouri law at the time of the signing. We were able to work with agents on a simple fix saying the contracts will transfer to California law once the team move is official" (PROFOOTBALLTALK.com, 3/13).
