Peter King on Oxnard and Inglewood
PostPosted:9 years 5 months ago
http://mmqb.si.com/monday-morning-qb-cr ... bowman-nfl
OXNARD, Calif. — You think this team doesn’t have one foot out the door to L.A.?
What a scene here Monday and Tuesday, when the Rams, after a Friday night preseason game in Oakland, scheduled a couple of days of work against the Cowboys at their training complex here. It was enough to see the Rams fans, who outnumbered the Dallas fans by 2-to-1 (my estimate) Tuesday, be nuts for that team; one even had a huge flat-head cutout of owner Stan Kroenke in the crowd. Imagine fans cheering for Stan Kroenke. Amazing. He’s not exactly a fan favorite in St. Louis.
But there was something else here, and that’s the embrace of the alumni, who were out in force to see the new edition of the team, gone from the market for a generation.
On Monday and Tuesday, the Rams did a morning walk-through practice near their hotel between Los Angeles and Oxnard. In one of those sessions, coach Jeff Fisher stuck his head into the offensive huddle and said, “Guys, I’m putting Eric Dickerson in the backfield, and you’re going to block power for Eric Dickerson.” Hall of Fame running back Eric Dickerson, he meant. And Dickerson took a handoff in this walkthrough practice, ran through a hole, and folks cheered.
“Then,” said Fisher, “Eric walked over and stood next to [first-round pick] Todd Gurley. The resemblance between the two of them was awesome.”
Regarding the NFL’s future in Los Angeles, one of the things several owners are very bullish on is how Rams owner Kroenke is throwing the league a low-cost life preserver for NFL Network, NFL.com and related NFL digital properties. There's an expansive plan for a new facility and multipurpose theater at the stadium complex in Inglewood that Kroenke is planning. NFL Network is currently crammed into its facility in nearby Culver City, and I talked to one owner who believes Kroenke’s multimillion-dollar savior plan for the network and the league’s digital enterprise will be a big factor in what the league decides to do with the Los Angeles market.
If the Rams are the choice of the owners, which is no sure thing but something I’m growing more to see is the preferred route, I could see them playing in Los Angeles next year and 2017 (and maybe ’18) while the stadium is built. As for the other two stadium-seekers in California, there’s growing sentiment that if the Spanos family can’t get the new stadium it badly wants in San Diego, the Chargers could be the second team in Inglewood. In that scenario, the Raiders would have to fend for themselves. But we’re still months away from a resolution, and that could change dramatically.
OXNARD, Calif. — You think this team doesn’t have one foot out the door to L.A.?
What a scene here Monday and Tuesday, when the Rams, after a Friday night preseason game in Oakland, scheduled a couple of days of work against the Cowboys at their training complex here. It was enough to see the Rams fans, who outnumbered the Dallas fans by 2-to-1 (my estimate) Tuesday, be nuts for that team; one even had a huge flat-head cutout of owner Stan Kroenke in the crowd. Imagine fans cheering for Stan Kroenke. Amazing. He’s not exactly a fan favorite in St. Louis.
But there was something else here, and that’s the embrace of the alumni, who were out in force to see the new edition of the team, gone from the market for a generation.
On Monday and Tuesday, the Rams did a morning walk-through practice near their hotel between Los Angeles and Oxnard. In one of those sessions, coach Jeff Fisher stuck his head into the offensive huddle and said, “Guys, I’m putting Eric Dickerson in the backfield, and you’re going to block power for Eric Dickerson.” Hall of Fame running back Eric Dickerson, he meant. And Dickerson took a handoff in this walkthrough practice, ran through a hole, and folks cheered.
“Then,” said Fisher, “Eric walked over and stood next to [first-round pick] Todd Gurley. The resemblance between the two of them was awesome.”
Regarding the NFL’s future in Los Angeles, one of the things several owners are very bullish on is how Rams owner Kroenke is throwing the league a low-cost life preserver for NFL Network, NFL.com and related NFL digital properties. There's an expansive plan for a new facility and multipurpose theater at the stadium complex in Inglewood that Kroenke is planning. NFL Network is currently crammed into its facility in nearby Culver City, and I talked to one owner who believes Kroenke’s multimillion-dollar savior plan for the network and the league’s digital enterprise will be a big factor in what the league decides to do with the Los Angeles market.
If the Rams are the choice of the owners, which is no sure thing but something I’m growing more to see is the preferred route, I could see them playing in Los Angeles next year and 2017 (and maybe ’18) while the stadium is built. As for the other two stadium-seekers in California, there’s growing sentiment that if the Spanos family can’t get the new stadium it badly wants in San Diego, the Chargers could be the second team in Inglewood. In that scenario, the Raiders would have to fend for themselves. But we’re still months away from a resolution, and that could change dramatically.