St. Louis Rams Return To Los Angeles

The St. Louis Rams are now officially the Los Angeles Rams. The Rams will officially be moving to LA following a reported 30-2 vote by the NFL openers, Tuesday. The Rams return to LA for the first time since leaving the city in 1994, when they moved to St. Louis.

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The move will see the Rams play home games at a temporary location, likely the LA Colosseum, until their new stadium is built in Ingelwood, California – which NFL Commissioner said will be open in 2019. The deal also allows the San Diego Chargers to pair with the Rams in the new Inglewood stadium, if they refuse the Oakland Raiders will get a chance.

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The Rams were in St. Louis for 21 total seasons, posting a 142-193-1 record. They have been under the direction of eight coaches: Rich Brooks from 1995-1996, Dick Vermeil from 1997-1999, Mike Martz from 2000-2005, Joe Vitt for part of 2005, Scott Lineman from 2006-2008, Jim Haslett for part of 2008, Steve Spagnuole from 2009-2011 and Jeff Fisher from 2012 through the present day.

The Rams final game in the city of St. Louis was on December 17 in a 31-23 win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The city embraced the players as they left the field, and the players did the same on social media following the announcement of the move to Los Angeles.

While the city of Los Angeles was elated with the move of the Rams, the city of St. Louis stood strong in its stance about the move. St. Louis Mayor Francis Slay released a statement stating, “The NFL ignored the facts, the loyalty of St. Louis fans, who supported the team through far more downs than ups, and the NFL ignored a strong market and viable plan for a new stadium. I am proud of our effort and what St. Louis was able to accomplish in an extraordinarily short period of time. I thank everyone who worked so diligently on this project, especially the Governor’s Task Force.

“In the meantime, we need to increase our focus on the region’s hospitality industry— conventions, tourism and amateur sports. These events and the hotels and restaurants that support them put thousands of City and County residents to work in good jobs. St. Louis is great place to live and build a business— with or without NFL football.”

The St. Louis Stadium Task Force also released a statement reading, “Today’s decision by the NFL concludes a flawed process that ends with the unthinkable result of St. Louis losing the Rams. Over the past 15 months, our stadium task force has delivered in every respect to what the NFL demanded of St. Louis to keep our team. 

More importantly, over the past 21 seasons, most of them dire, St. Louis has been remarkably supportive of and faithful to the Rams.  We will leave it to the NFL to explain how this could happen and hope the next city that may experience what St. Louis has endured will enjoy a happier and more appropriate outcome.

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“Here in St. Louis and throughout our region, we are incredibly grateful for the energy and support we received during this journey. What St. Louis was able to accomplish in a very, very short time was, and is, amazing.  That our collective efforts will not be rewarded, or recognized, is very unfortunate.  We all deserve better, but never forget that we just showed everyone and ourselves what St. Louis is capable of achieving.  The best days for St. Louis are not far away.”