The wait is over
Few fans are as stoked over the Rams’ return to Los Angeles than Andy Hogan, the founder of Fearsome Football (formerly known as Bring Back the Los Angeles Rams). Here’s his take on the team, as told to SportsBusiness Daily’s John Bauernfeind.
I’m originally from Orange County. My dad, grandfather and uncle had season tickets for the Rams in the ’70s and
’80s, so they had season tickets at both the Coliseum and Anaheim Stadium. I was only 5 when they officially up and moved, so I had no real memory other than pictures of me in Rams onesies.
What really got me started was reading about the history and saying, “Oh my God, why did they allow this team to move in the first place? This is ridiculous.” It kind of just grew from there.
I started what was then Bring Back the Los Angeles Rams in November 2009. It was almost kind of half-joking. I don’t like saying that, but I didn’t think it was serious. I liked the idea and I wanted it to happen, but I didn’t really think it was going to happen, at least at that time.
There were a lot of questions of whether the fan base was still there. Rams fans were a lot quieter about their fandom. That’s partially because Raiders fans have the opportunity to either take a quick flight up to Oakland or drive down to San Diego every year. Rams fans didn’t have that luxury.
For the preseason game against the Cowboys at the Coliseum, it took an hour to go six blocks because the traffic was so bad trying to get into the stadium. We had about 89,000 people for a preseason game. I can only imagine how crazy it’ll be for a regular-season game.
RV ready
When Rams staff heard a fan had bought an RV just to tailgate in year one of the team’s second run in Los Angeles, they wanted his name. Well, he is Edwin Arroyave, and if he is any indication, L.A. fans are willing to spend serious cash to have a good time at the games.
Arroyave is the founder of Skyline Security, a California-based security company with 400-plus employees. He’s even hired a personal chef for game days for the RV, a Hurricane 29M Class A, which retails in the six figures. He also bought 10 season tickets.
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| Edwin Arroyave and daughter Slate |
A native of the Los Angeles area, the 39-year-old grew up a Rams fan. Most games were blacked out when he was younger, he recalled, so he listened to those on the radio.
After he started his company in 1999, he had the means to attend Rams games in St. Louis, though work limited it to one a year.
Why the RV?
“I wanted to make up for all those years of not being able to attend Rams home games because of my family restraints and do it in style the way I always dreamed of,” he wrote via email. “I now have a wife and three kids that I don’t get to spend too much time with during the week. I usually make up the time on weekends, but football Sundays was surely going to cause problems with family time, so I decided to buy the RV so I can bring the family along.”
A product of humble beginnings, Arroyave wrote, “As cheesy as it sounds, as a young kid, the Rams gave me hope and I will forever be in the team’s debt for that.”
— Daniel Kaplan
Executive decision
Several sports executives have purchased Rams tickets. Here’s a sampling:
Ken Solomon is a longtime L.A. media executive, having worked for decades in Hollywood, and now for over a decade running Tennis Channel. He owns four season tickets. Ask him about the Rams and he sounds like a little boy. Over breakfast last month, he explained why the Rams coming from behind to win the first preseason game was such a big deal, and how people woke up pumped about it.
Christian Muirhead, spokesman for WME-IMG, looks forward to sharing games with his family. Living in L.A. offers families many options, but until this year (at least for the last two decades), the NFL experience was not one of them. He is upfront about why to buy tickets now: Those who do so will have the first shot to buy season tickets in the new Inglewood stadium.
Andrew Kline, partner with Park Lane, is one of the few L.A.-based sports executives who not only played in the NFL, but played for the Rams (from 2000-02 during their time in St. Louis). He retired due to multiple concussions.
n Casey Wasserman, founder of the Wasserman agency and one of the most influential people in L.A. sports circles, also will be at the games. He declined to say how many tickets he has.
Will Wynperle, a partner with L.A.-based Shamrock Capital Advisors, owns four season tickets. As a lifelong New York sports fan, he said he is glad to have a local football team to get behind and that his two sons are really excited.
— Daniel Kaplan
