The Rams will host a playoff game tomorrow night for the first time in Los Angeles since 1979, but the local fans aren’t exactly clamoring for tickets.
Go to the Rams’ website and you can find section after section, row after row of tickets available. Want eight tickets together? No problem. They’re available. In many sections of the stadium.
It’s not exactly news that the Rams haven’t been able to fill out the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. Although the return of pro football to Los Angeles in 2016 resulted in strong initial interest, that interest quickly fizzled thanks to a bad and boring brand of football that got coach Jeff Fisher fired. This year, new coach Sean McVay has rejuvenated the Rams, winning the NFC West with an exciting style of play, but the interest hasn’t returned.
But it has to be disappointing to the Rams, who saw regular-season attendance decline by about 25 percent this season, that even a playoff game isn’t drawing a bigger crowd. The Coliseum routinely draws crowds of more than 80,000 for USC games, but as Rams receiver Robert Woods, who played at USC, said on PFT PM this week, they’re still hoping to get that kind of atmosphere for an NFL game.
“We’ll really find out this weekend, this night game, seeing the atmosphere, seeing how loud it gets,” Woods said.
For their part, the Rams tell PFT they’re pleased with the pace of ticket sales, noting that they have sold more than 70,000 tickets for the game. The team says the remaining tickets are only a limited number. We’ll see on Saturday night just how full the house is.