Rams coach Jeff Fisher reiterated that the team's trip to the L.A. area for joint practices with the Cowboys was "all about getting his team ready" for the season and had "nothing to do with (moving to) L.A. or anything else," according to Jim Thomas of the ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH. Fisher: "We were really happy we had quite a group of fans here. But from a practicality standpoint and a convenience standpoint, this worked out the best for us." Thomas writes while the Rams "basked in chants of 'L.A. Rams!, L.A. Rams!' in Oxnard, many in St. Louis seethed at what they regarded as another move" by team Owner Stan Kroenke to "alienate the fan base." While the team was "highly appreciative of the support from the few thousand L.A. Rams fans who showed up," players -- "at least publicly -- tried to stay out of it." Rams DE Chris Long said, "We’re appreciative of our fans wherever they are. Obviously they did a great job of coming to support us here. We have great fans in St. Louis, too. We’re not here to choose sides. We’re here to play football" (ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH, 8/20). A POST-DISPATCH editorial stated it is "not hard to think that the Rams are toast" in St. Louis. As NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell is "making noises about the need for 'certainty,'" the Rams are "saying St. Louis just doesn't work for them" and Kroenke has been silent. The $1.9B Inglewood stadium Kroenke wants to build "would make his team worth twice" what the proposed St. Louis riverfront stadium would. The editorial: "Absent some sort of deus ex machina surprise (ownership flips), this will wind up in court. ... Is a judge really going to tell the league and the Rams they have to spend $450 million and sign a 30-year lease on a stadium they don’t want to play in?" (ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH, 8/19).
AN AFTERTHOUGHT IN L.A.? SI's Lee Jenkins writes only one L.A.-area stadium project "will be approved," and there is "more excitement for the Thursday turtle races at Brennan's Pub in Marina del Rey." Jenkins wrote of the proposed Chargers-Raiders venue: "We're talking about two more hours a week on the 405, tailgates in Carson and thousands of dollars in personal seat licenses to watch the Chargers mount their annual surge to 7-9." The NFL "is king" in most cities, but L.A. "is not most cities." Transplants "stick with their teams, and locals already support half a dozen superior squads." Once the buzz of an NFL team "wears off," the owners will "sit in their luxury boxes and gaze on row after row of empty seats" (SI, 8/24 issue).
