L.A. market had lower TV rating for Super Bowl than country as a whole
Posted by Michael David Smith on February 5, 2019, 5:17 AM EST
Los Angeles isn't getting behind the Rams the way cities usually get behind winning football teams.
In fact, the L.A. market actually had a lower television rating for the Super Bowl than the country as a whole. According to Austin Karp of Sports Business Journal, the Los Angeles market had a 44.6 overnight rating, which is actually lower than the 44.9 overnight rating for the country as a whole.
It's just about unheard of, not only for the Super Bowl but for any sporting event, for the market of one of the two teams in the game to get a lower rating than the country as a whole. (For comparison, Boston had a 57.4 overnight rating.)
The good news for the NFL is, that 44.6 overnight rating was the highest in Los Angeles for a Super Bowl since 1996. And the NFL badly wants to see interest in football increase in Los Angeles, because it's the second-biggest market in America. Los Angeles has 5.3 million television households while St. Louis has 1.2 million, and that's why the Rams moved back to Los Angeles from St. Louis. Even if the people who live in St. Louis, on average, care more about football than the people who live in Los Angeles.
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172 responses to "L.A. market had lower TV rating for Super Bowl than country as a whole"
whitechapelx says:
It's no secret people in LA are flakes. How many times will it take the NFL to realize this?
JPOH33 says:
What's with this obsession about ratings?
araidersfan says:
Los Angeles is a graveyard for NFL football. There's a reason why the Rams and Raiders both left in 1995 and why Bob McNair chose Houston rather than La La land for his expansion franchise.
savagestarlight says:
Pulling up stakes and relocating every 20 years is no way to build fan loyalty.
caliviking805 says:
The heavy rain in LA (it hardly ever rains here) changed my plans for the superbowl, I imagine alot of other people stayed home and illegally streamed it.
Additionally, my job (a college) has hosted an annual Superbowl showing for atleast 4 years now. We typically get ~150-200 students (students love free food) to show up to get free food and watch the game. Only about 50-70 people showed up this time around.
Of course this is only anecdotal, but the rain might have been a factor. Just giving an observation of mine.
Guam will capsize! says:
No one in NE cares about the ratings. If people choose to ignore greatness then so be it. I know I watched every exciting second and am thrilled that NE now has as many rings as Pittsburgh. I took them 31 years, 2 coaches and a few QB's to get 6 after the first. NE did it in about half the time. It took Pittsburgh 76 years to get 6 rings, NE did it in 18.
Kevin Harrell says:
Illegitimate Super Bowl
Illegitimate NFC Champion
Lying cheating commissioner
Truong Nguyen says:
It's no secret that there a million other things to do in LA besides watch the NFL.
Only people who have never lived here don't realize this!
2dat says:
Nice to see that the NFL and Roger Goodell are WRONG AGAIN!
broughtupbrowns says:
I hear St. Louis Wants a team.
Aska Feld says:
Hard to get excited about vagabond franchises that take a municipalities tax money then split.
Dillon Pauls says:
If you've seen any of the Chargers and Rams games this year, hardly anyone showed up.
pftthoughtpolicemostwanted says:
My favorite imagery is of the 'fans' hiding from the sun under the grandstands at the race NASCAR hosts there
cebert44 says:
They don't get behind a bought team. 10 of those guys will be gone
next year.
blowncallssuck says:
Really you don't say?
Wrong team in the game sure did not help the ratings.
Actually the pathetic showing by both teams was just as big a joke as the ratings.
George Paras says:
I travel to LA for Buisness on a regular basis and I'm from Chicago I can tell you that LA doesn't care about Football and there are two teams in that Market.I honestly think it was the worst decision to put Football in the LA area.There was a reason why NFL teams left LA
contender21open says:
I'm in Southwest Florida and I don't know anybody that watched it. My wife and I had dinner at a friend's and not only never turned on, but never even discussed it…..
….. until we were leaving. We all then agreed it wasn't worth watching teams that didn't belong there.
isleptwithoj says:
LA is about the Lakers and little else. Sad.
Actually, people in L.A. are Americans. You know, police, teachers, fire fighters, military, etc. etc. Where are you from, that's so much greater than L.A.?
Flash1287 says:
LA and Miami heat fans are true bandwagon fans.
mj323 says:
The NFL hasn't learned from history. LA just doesn't care. They can tell the refs to make sure LA wins all they want, but that won't change the fact that again, LA doesn't care. Putting one team there because "OMG BIG MARKET" was stupuid, and two teams is even worse. How long will they last there this time?
redlikethepig says:
LA is simply not an NFL town.
myspaceyourface says:
Roger is thinking, Let's put 6 teams in L.A.
endtimesparty says:
Perhaps if they kicked off the telecast with Ryan Seacreast and Joan Rivers's daughter interviewing players as they walked a red carpet to the locker room.
Perhaps if they interrupted the game to announce the nominees and winners of the NFL season awards.
tommysaint1 says:
How could you not see this? Anyone who has ever been to LA understands its filled with the most selfish, hypocritical, indignant least loyal humans on the planet.
If its not cool, it won't work. Fan base will increase when they get a new stadium because…new stuff attracts the superficial, but that will last only a few years.
And you gave them 2 teams! that's just expensive comedy right there.
pphins4life12 says:
Maybe they just care more about the Lakers…
murraysons says:
Totally understand the desire to get into that media market. But, both teams are led by boring white dudes. Those teams need some sizzle, some diversity. People in LA aren't going to care about the sport. They're going to care about personalities and razzle dazzle
starfan79 says:
The nfl put the Rams in the Super Bowl solely so they can try and help build a fan base really fast. They have a huge stadium coming and no one to sit in it. The Rams didn't deserve to get in that game but the league made sure it did.
TruthfulDolphinsFanNotWearingBlinders says:
Not really a fair comparison at this point since the Rams are trying to rebuild a fanbase over the last couple of years besides Southern Californians have a lot more activities to do outside as opposed to the Northeast where you're locked down by winter weather and don't want to leave the house most of the time.
fishfan77 says:
I posted several times after the Saints/Rams game when the conspiracy people were saying they NFL wanted the Rams and the LA market in the Super Bowl. Nobody cares about football in LA. The TV ratings lag far behind the rest of the league. There is a reason that the Rams and Chargers have actually practiced for HOME games with crowd noise pumped in.
The missed call in the Saints game was a truly horrible call. But that's all it was. It was not part of a grand design to gem the Rams into the Super Bowl. Trust me, not only would the Saints have made the game more interesting, but the Ratings would not have been the worst in over a decade.
BobMayoOnTheKeyboard says:
They moved because the City of St Louis wouldn't fund a new stadium.
Philllymamba215 says:
Go back to St. Louis
leroyquimby says:
Football in Los Angeles already failed once but just like all big corporations do is get blinded by projections and try failed experiments once again only to have the next guy get fired. I do think LA should be the permanent site of the Super Bowl though but no team.
exinsidetrader says:
LA is fake America. It is best ignored in all things.
itsnotcheese2934 says:
Fool me once shame on you, fool me twice shame on me. What is it when you are fooled into brining a team to LA 4 (5?) Times and you can't establish any sort consistent fan base?
vikesfansteve says:
People in LA only care about a chance to be on TV celebrating a TD with the NFC Champs. A fun Sunday night. But to watch the game or fly to ATL to cheer for them. NO. How many teams have to fail in L.A. before the NFL understands that. Cut to 10 yrs from now when the Chargers & Rams are in talks to leave LA because the lease on their stadium doesn't generate the team enough revenue.
ausernamethatisavailable says:
I really feel the no call in NO was wreck less incompetence by the side judge and not any sort of collusion by the NFL, but man that super bowl was a dud. In hindsight, that may do more damage in the LA market than if they would have lost in the nfccg. Losing in the super bowl is devastating enough but the offense did not even show up. And let's face it, very few LA fans have been watching football long enough to appreciate what their defense was able to do.
J V says:
They don't care about the Rams no matter how much the NFL tries to push it.
When that new stadium open, home games for the Chargers and Rams are going to be packed with opposing fans. They will have no real home field advantage.
bmacwillconn says:
Nothing surprising here. The demographic changes coupled with the apathy towards professional sport in CA has transformed the state in ways that should scare the hell out of any sports media executive.
vetdana says:
Why should anyone be surprised ? Look at the history of NFL teams IN and then OUT of the LA Mkt.Does no one learn from the past demographics? What would show us that those same demographics have changed since the past excursions of the Rams and the Raiders.Now we can throw the Chargers into the mix.Wai until they build the new LA stadium and we will see dismal attendance that many have predicted will be the case. Nothing has changed and we see the numbers confirming same.
slayer1224 says:
Throw the flag next time.
kcchefs58 says:
And, no fan is surprised.
philmycrackin says:
Square peg, round hole.
watchfullhose says:
"NFL wants to see ratings increase in LA" hmmm…any non-calls come to mind that would have otherwise prevented this?
NinersFan1973 says:
Good thing we gave them two teams!
Jake Cunningham says:
Good job NFL. Saturate a city that cares nothing about your sport. Most in LA are transplants from somewhere else. Give San Antonio, OKC, or St. Louis a team. LA people are to wrapped up in themselves to care about the NFL. Another colossal failure by the NFL.
Irish Hoodlum says:
LA community has gone too long without an NFL franchise. It's going to take years for it to catch on. Look at how the stadium was filled when they played Philly and Dallas. It was like 70-80% the opposing teams fanbase. Plus playing in the Collisium makes people not want to go. That stadium is old as dirt and a death trap plus to park anywhere remotely close it's $100 for parking. After the new stadium is built and if they are still winning then people will come.
devanchase says:
I feel like.. We all already knew this.
rexdarteskimospy says:
Ironic that the NFL needs the Los Angeles market a whole lot more than the Los Angeles market needs the NFL.
LA is much more of a baseball town than a football town anyway, which is a rarity.
seabrawk12 says:
The people of St. Louis were robbed more than the Saints in the NFCCG.
SaintsGotRobbed says:
Pathetic. Glad Rodger put 2 teams there. They didn't rightfully advance anyway.
Fake. Super. Bowl.
SWFLPC.INC says:
Maybe they didn't account for the fact that 30% of people in LA are homeless and living on the street
Football is too masculine for California.
Doesn't help they've only been back in L.A. since 2015 and you can't trust they'll stay around because they've left before. Raiders came and went too, and the other option is the Chargers whose owner gave the finger to San Diego & fanbase who made him rich purely because he couldn't suck any more tax dollars out them. I've lived in LA and none of those appeal – an expansion team would've been better.
By the way, this is also why NFL Europe failed. I worked in London thru the 1990s and folks really dug the World League, but NFL reneged on a 5yr commitment, then after a few years brought it back but with different teams & setup, then changed again a few years later, by which time fans gave up. Fans are real people with feelings and not just a financial resource.
Kirk's Cousin says:
A sizable portion of people in Los Angeles are from other cities/countries. It shouldn't be surprising that their support is underwhelming at best.
brees4mvp says:
NFL: welp, we tried our hardest!
LA is NOT a football city. EVERYONE knows that except the owners and commssioner. They would get much more intrest in San Antonio, Austin or Birmingham. They LOVE their football and spend the $$$$ to support a NFL team.
uwachampion says:
This is what happens when you try to force something into a market. There is very little interest in NFL Football in LA and now 2 franchises are sitting like lame ducks.
Eaglehaslanded !!! says:
Yet there are two football teams in LA…lol. Joke!
rockymountaingumbo says:
Even their own fans had no interest in watching a team that didnt deserve to be in the Super Bowl
veetan says:
That's because even THEY knew their wasn't supposed to even be in the game to start with. No one like illegitimate victories like the NFC Championship game so clearly was – even when it's for your own team.
zonkerharris213 says:
What did the NFL expect? All 350 of us LA Rams fans were at the game.
flexx91 says:
This is why the Rams moved back to Los Angeles from St. Louis. It is also the reason the NFL wanted them in this year's Super Bowl…..
Jeff Wilson says:
Good for them. The game sucked. I wish I hadn't watched it
greenbleeder says:
What a joke. Too bad the Raiders aren't moving there too so LA can have 3 teams that nobody watches or cares about.
The NFL made their bed in LA and no one wants to sleep in it.
dfwhawkguy says:
They had to watch these clowns play all year and knew what frauds they are. Hope they enjoyed their last year on top because Russ and the Hawks obviously reclaim the NFC West and the Lombardi next year.
49ersfury says:
The most apathetic professional football market in the history of the sport and yet they have TWO teams.
The official in the NFC championship game should have called what he saw and spared the NFL of this embarrassment.
OldTime Football says:
UCLA or USC, in a bowl game, would have better ratings!
kamthechancellor says:
Too much to do in LA. Football will always be just an entertainment option there.
fwippel says:
Great idea, Roger, putting two teams in a city that didn't have the will to support one. Perhaps Mr. Goodell needs to look up the definition of insanity, meaning doing the same thing over and over again, and expecting a different result.
factschecker says:
We don't want a team. We get the AFC/NFC game of the week every week of the year.
That's what my LA/California customers would tell me every time a franchise would threaten to move to LA if they didn't get a new stadium over the past 20+ years.
saulg2 says:
This is why LA does NOT need two teams.
It was idiocy to let SD mover there too…
unbridledsexy says:
What a waste of a franchise on a city that doesn't care. How many smaller markets across the US would have immediately fallen in love with a new NFL team? But nah, let's stick 2 of them in LA.
phinatic29 says:
Team goes to Super Bowl, city doesn't care. I think the people of Los Angeles a much smarter than i gave them credit for, now the NFL on the other hand…..
johnnymck17 says:
I said this when the Chargers moved there. LA will get behind a consistently winning franchise with star power (aka the Lakers) but most people IN LA aren't FROM LA. They are from Chicago, New York, etc. and they carry their loyalty with them. The Rams were actually in LA at one point so I guess they at least have some history but the TV rating discrepency surprises me none.
your6ringsaremeaninglessnow says:
The reason why many Angelenos don't support LA is quite simple:
The team left LA in 94 along with the Raiders. LA had no team for over 20 years. Most Angeleno football fans moved on during this period and found new teams. When the Rams moved back in 2015, the NFL expected Angelenos to drop whatever team they were supporting and take the Rams back. If your partner left you, you moved on with your life, and then many years later they show up at your doorstep, would you take them back? Because that is what is being expected of Angelenos.
magakag says:
Check back in 10-12 years. Rams, Chargers won't be in LA. Guaranteed.
djstat says:
Football in LA is something to do. NO one cares about the teams. #facts
akira1971 says:
"Los Angeles has 5.3 million television households while St. Louis has 1.2 million"
So basically LA needs only 20% of the city to watch and they'll EASILY beat the entire St. Louis market…
steelerfanjo says:
More proof that Roger Goodell is clueless.
patsfan1820 says:
LA fans have always been wishy washy. Why anyone would want to go to LA as a team I have no idea. No attendance, celebrities falsely advertising how great the city is, and a god knows how expensive stadium that the tax payer has to foot the bill for.
jpgjaxon says:
why couldn't the headline read "Las Angeles had highest rating in superbowl since 1996"
floridaslonechargersfan says:
Move the Chargers back to San Diego
thewanderer says:
The NFL wants LA to have 2 teams. LA wants to have no NFL teams. Raiders, Rams, Chargers, they're all going to leave LA (for the Rams, they'll leave again). What good is the LA media market to the NFL, when they draw worse than a UCLA game?
logast says:
Gee. It is not like the NFL has failed in LA before. Odd.
MyCommentIsAwaitingModeration says:
No surprise. I really don't understand why the NFL was so hell-bent on putting a team in LA. It's never been a great sports market.
ditkasanger says:
So the people who 'dont' live their lives based on the results of other people playing football are the "flakes"…?
very insightful.
Patrick Crochet says:
The NFL got what they wanted & it blew up in the face….now you have 2 teams that no one in the area cares about….
waldoampere says:
Maybe they turned off their TVs out of embarrassment of Jared Goff's performance.
the610limited says:
There goes the NFL's "we gotta have a team in LA" theory/excuse…
sllib12 says:
Places outside the USA such as California don't like football
denverscott says:
Maybe it's because neither team deserved to be there. Thanks NFL!
manderson4150 says:
But the NFL will always show horn a team into Los Angeles even when they show they really don't want one.
jaycitie says:
And probably half of that 5.3 million are fans of other teams because they aren't actually from L.A. Face it, two L.A. teams was a mistake.
bigtimebrownie says:
Just what they deserve.
leagle911 says:
"It's no secret people in LA are flakes."
Because they don't watch the NFL in as (very slightly) great of numbers as elsewhere? C'mon. LA drifted away thanks to the NFL, and it will take time to get them back.
Said differently, LA and the surrounding area has more hot rods per square mile than anywhere else. Does that make the rest of the nation flakes as far as hot rods are concerned. No. The rest of us have plenty.
cometkazie says:
It's still better than the ratings in New Orleans, which, I think, were below 30.
tcirish53 says:
This is why the whole LA as a market thing is a hoax insofar as the NFL is concerned.
Sure, the population is huge and drives the need to 'be there' in any industry, but as sports fans they are as a whole, disinterested.
But TWO teams when they can barely (maybe) support ONE?
The league has tried multiple times to jam different square pegs into the round hole that is the LA football marketplace. It just doesn't work, and if anybody doubted it, this should erase that doubt.
ocdn says:
The only flakes are the ones you live in with your Polar Vortex. We enjoy our 72 degrees……….
accipiterq says:
This LA boondogle is baffling. The NFL left LA 20 years ago because they couldn't even sell-out their stadium, forcing a blackout in the 2nd largest TV market in the country. Two decades later, with more sports available to consumers than ever, the NFL assumes the city is suddenly going to care more about football than it did before?
badrapp says:
Having two LA teams is worse than having two New Jersey teams.
winningisabrees says:
how you put of 3 points in the SB. Geesh, what a choke job. And shoulda been Brees Brady, battle of the two 40+ club. but instead we got 16 total points.
peter martucci says:
This Super Bowl was doomed when the officials put the wrong team in it with the bad call. There was no real interest in it by anyone you talked to. It was totally boring and Many people in my close group did not even watch the second half. I'm sure the owners were delighted to have the large LA market but the fans would have preferred the real winner of the playoff game. I'm not sure the NFL even cares about fans as long as the TV money rolls in
brendafortheboyz says:
Until the owners realize that Ole Rog is tearing the NFL down, bit by bit, there will be no change, until it hits them where it counts….their wallets 🙂 For the first time in my life, I felt the fix was in, with the Rams/Saints game, and I'm obviously not a fan of either team!! Rog will reap what he sows…hopefully!
craigkintexas says:
LA is a soccer town not a football town. Look at the demographics!
Yeah, ok – the Pats only beat two of the best teams in the NFL in the playoffs (one of them twice0, but they didn't deserve to be there?
swl2688 says:
Your all wrong! Most of you have never attended a football game In LA so therefore you have no room to speak about something you dont know about. I have been to LA from NJ twice this year to attend games and there are alot of fans in LA and they have well over 65,000 actual Rams fans there. The media loves to twist this up to make it seem like something it's not. You cant even compare chargers games to Rams games it's not even close. This article could have been spun the other way too and said LA had the highest ratings for a SB since 96. The media has an agenda and there going to keep pushing it even though it is extremely one sided. Take it from someone who has actually attended games. LA does love the Rams and it will continue to grow. The NFL media is hands down the worst in the world.
battmanri says:
The L.A. market has fewer people watching the Super Bowl than the rest of America. And the Rams played in it. So let's put TWO teams in L.A……ppphhhhlllltttt!!!!
omeimontis says:
Not surprising because LA is not a good NFL market. The people support their college football teams (UCLA and USC) but are somewhat indifferent about the LAmbs when they were there. The Raiders seldom sold out the huge LA Coliseum when they were there, and they moved back to Oakland when LA refused to remodel the Coliseum. It would be a surprise if the Chargers will sell out their home games. I predict the Chargers will be moving again after a few years of low attendance.
matrixdelmar says:
Nope. They can have them. The NFL burned one of our bridges.
filthymcnasty3 says:
The hot TV demographic in LA is the Charger players.
You guys need to learn your math.
Boston (2,425,440) at 57.4 tv rating = 1,392,202 fans watching
LA (5,318,630) at 44.6 rating = 2,372,109 fans watching
Who cares what PERCENTAGE of the city likes football. Logan Paulsen IS NOT the better receiver just because he caught all 9 passes (100%) than Michael Thomas who caught 125 passes at ONLY a 85% rate.
The NFL is toxic masculinity…this is why it's not popular in California.
govchris says:
San Antonio would have been a better choice, but Jerry Jones has done everything in his power to prevent it. He was the first owner to say Las Vegas would be an acceptable city for a team and his endorsement had nothing to do with a love for Las Vegas.
daramsman says:
As a person that lives in St.Louis its always astonishing how much the general public buys into the NFL/Kroenke PR machine without doing a thimble full of homework. St. Louis DID support the team since the day they landed in St. Louis in 95. Rabid fans as a matter of fact. Sold out the dome for like 17 years straight even with all the horrific football we were subjected to before and after the Greatest Show on Turf days.Yes it is a baseball town with a super rich tradition.
But when the seasons crossed over people would go to the baseball games and then walk down the street to go see the Rams. Always sold out. When StanK bought the team in 2010 he and his personal right hand butt wiper Kevin Demoff lied to St. Louis and said they would do EVERYTHING in their power to keep the Rams in St.Louis. It was all BS. The whole goal was to get the franchise to LA, to double the value of the franchise and to own the "dirt" in LA to build what he is building now. Had nothing to do with butts in seats.The NFL is all about TV deals and eyeballs glued to the TV. They have built a pretty good football team out there in SoCal and no one cares. I was in Costa Mesa last year talking to a few people in a local bar and to a person they said no cares about the Rams and they even cared less about the Chargers. Its about the Lakers, USC and the Dodgers in that order. That new stadium is going to be a 5 billion dollar paper weight in a few years in regards to the NFL. Yes, they will have superbowls, national championships maybe even the Olympics, but the NFL got it wrong with this move. Greed will always do you in at some point.
By the way, the City of St. Louis offered over 500 million in public money for a new stadium and Stank SAID NO!
Roger Alamode says:
They don't care and haven't for a couple of decades. Now they have two teams and still don't care. They should be thankful for all the corporate money buying PSLs and boxes because if left to actual fans paying for seats they would drown.
daramsman says: "They have built a pretty good football team out there in SoCal and no one cares."
Sorry about the move, but TWICE as many people in LA (5,318,630 at 44.6 rating = 2,372,109 fans) watched the game than the WHOLE population of St. Louis…
Doolin Danger says:
small markets which have more passionate fans than LA – ALL OF THEM.
finfanjim says:
LA is a sterile pit. Why the NFL allowed TWO teams to go there is maybe Goodell's biggest fail.
pantherpro says:
LA was a great football town with a bad stadium before that woman took the money and ran to St. Louis. Let's see USC ……..and not football town. The Rams led the NFL in attendance in 70's before stadium became dump and this is from Niner fan who hates LA. So glad they are back!
originalpumpf says:
Oh my gosh, Saints fans… you are the lamest fans ever. Get over it. There were not 1 but THREE blown calls- all in YOUR favor- back in the 2009 NFCCG… and they were all in OT, when the Vikings never had a chance to win the game (since all 3 calls moved your team into FG position, at which time you kicked it and went on to the Super Bowl… without the Vikings ever getting to touch the ball). If there was EVER an illegitimate Super Bowl winner, it was the Saints!!! Back then, the accusation was that the NFL wanted the Saints to win, to help with the post-Katrina morale. That game was WAY more suspect than the most recent NFCCG. You were GIVEN a Super Bowl title… and now you have the gall to whine about someone else getting the benefit of ONE bad call? And after that one call, you still had multiple chances to win the game? You people are either really dumb… or HUGE hypocrites.
haansel82 says:
so many comments, not sure if this has been said. From my experience, most people in Socal are still Raiders fans.
Only Viqueen fans talk like this…5 fumbles, 2 picks, 12 men.
mrznyc says:
Hasn't anyone noticed that football does just fine in Los Angeles. USC and UCLA sell out most of their games. The problem is the NFL, not football.
I'll say it again: There was a very sizable, Old School LA Rams fan base, past tense. We cheered on some really good teams, that seemingly had everything but a decent QB, and the ability to play is frigid playoff weather. The problem was that the LA City Council wouldn't approve of taxpayer-funded renovations to the LA Colosseum. That led the venal widow, Madame Ram Georgia Frontiere, to move the team to Anaheim (which isn't even in LA County), and then to her home town of St. Louis, which was nothing more than a vanity tour for her.
The stench of Georgia Frontiere has never left that team. If that wasn't enough, we've been through greedy and jealous NFL ownership rally behind keeping an NFL team from moving back to LA for years and years. I suppose time may heal, but for now LA is more interested in UCLA and USC football.
You B. Crazy says:
This article is the reason the Spanos family was so dumb when they moved the Chargers to LA. LA sports fans only care about the Lakers and Dodgers. They have no time to care about the NFL. If anyone in the Spanos family was smart, they would've seeked outside investors and/or taken out loans to build a new stadium. The weather is always nice in San Diego, which opens the stadium up to year round events…like concerts and other events. Now they're just the NFL version of the Clippers.
where was your bitch ass when the Vikings got shafted on 7 calls, 4 in OT alone.
YOUR team deserves it.
LA was a great football town with a bad stadium before that woman took the money and ran to St. Louis. Let's see USC ……..and not football town. The Rams led the NFL in attendance in 70's before stadium became dump and this is from Niner fan who hates LA. So glad they are back in LA
greggallmansliver says:
Shovel mud
Spray garden hose on house
Hold on for dear life for 30 seconds at a time
Sit in car for 2 hours to go 10 miles
Watch 'live' tv shows three hours after they aired
Sounds like I'm missing out on all the things to do there
ben dover says:
La Folks just aren't sports crazy like the east coast folks. They are a different animal and at the end of the day who really cares. As I have gotten older and tickets to games keep going up I have found myself not caring as much about sports in general and I once was a NBA and NFL season ticket holder. I have found better uses for those $$$$ and just watch on TV when I want to. Life goes on with or without sports.
sylvester000001 says:
<<Los Angeles, because it's the second-biggest market in America.
No it's not. LA has a large number of human beings who reside there; not an actual market.
LA deserves no pro sports teams, let alone pro sports championships. Opps, says the NFL. As much as I can't stand the Patriots, I still would prefer to be honest; it would have been a huge disgrace if LA won.
mogogo1 says:
To the surprise of absolutely no one other than people who work for the NFL.
onlinetoughguy says:
Ummmmm….. $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ Duh
comatose w/ common sense says:
Goddell's cunning plan crashed & burned. Epioccally Hilarioius
By 2020, the lambs and chargers will go back to seeing who is LA's third best team.
frodoftw7 says:
It doesn't help matters that many folks there will be Las Vegas Raiders fans.
trubroncfan07 says:
When half the population in LA is illegals what do you expect. They can't afford cable.
5 fumbles, 2 picks, 12 men. Tagliabue reinstated every, single suspended player due to zero evidence at all. No intentionally injured player ever found. No player paid any sum at all for the intentionally injured player they never found.
XLIV!!
riggo08 says:
And now there are two teams there with one (Chargers) already the step child. I see another NFL move coming…
Taurus says:
The second largest city and metropolitan area in the country should have an NFL team! Now having two? No the Chargers move should've been blocked by the league…
johnodocks says:
I'll bet the ratings were better than what they'll be in London should they get a team and make it to the Super Bowl.
How is that Vikings' trophy case looking today Steve?
youbettercallsaul says:
Very true. I'm a life long LA resident. I've said the same before, the NFL will have a hard time filling up the sandlot the Chargers play in, let alone the Coliseum. Yet the Mexican National soccer team can sell out the Coliseum in a pinch, or when they have the Copa tournaments with teams from Argentina (my wife's home team), Brazil, Columbia, El Salvador, etc they routinely draw crowds that dwarf the Rams attendance figures.
The already established Galaxy and more recent LAFC will have a far easier time attracting and building fanbases than either the Rams and Chargers will. Heck, I've see more Chivas, Barcelona, Real Madrid, Juventus, Manchester jerseys than NFL gear.
There is a growing segment of young people who are indifferent about watching professional sports as a whole. My nephews and their friends are more into surfing and snowboarding than the nfl, nba, or mlb. Their high school had a hell of a time fielding a football team as are some of the other area schools.
Kroenke is building a nice, shiny building that he will be lucky if he can fill it halfway. However, FIFA will hold their share of tournaments and World Cup matches which will sellout in a heartbeat.
patswhatsup says:
I wore my Pats gear all the time here in LA and barely heard about it.
styro1 says:
No respect for the Rams ownership. They fled LA because of lack of support from the area and end up in St Louis. St Louis area welcomes them and gives them sellout after sellout, even when they were a bad team. St Louis even agreed to build a new stadium to keep the team there but they got a better offer, more money, so they give the St Louis fans the back of their hand and it's back to LA. Wait 20-25 years and the Rams ownership will be looking for a new home, with a better deal, more money, bet on it.
aquineas1 says:
I've always felt like in LA there were too many other things to do besides football.
afwhigs says:
Yeah, there are so many things to do in LA, that's why people don't watch. As if the rest of the country is any different.
The fact is, LA has a lot of transplants from other parts of the country. When I lived there all of my friends rooted for their own teams. Frankly, I think people in LA just resent being used as a cash cow by the NFL. Telling them "here's your team, now give us money" doesn't go over well.
But, also, as others have said, teams coming and going on a regular basis makes it hard for anyone to care too much.
staff2cj says:
If I'm living in LA, why would I want to watch the Rams oops WWE?
No offense to the rest of the country (where I happen to live, btw), but LA is on a different scale. There's a reason why it has so many transplants from other places. That's not to say it's all-that; every place has its warts. But even if you compare LA to a comparable metropolitan area, there's simply more going on.
heLLpaso says:
Which is why the Raiders should have gotten LA. They own the area's fan base.
th56 says:
You can rag on LA all you want, but what people don't realize is that most people in LA came from places that had an NFL team that they still root for, especially because of the long absence of a team, along with the fact that this was a horrible game and there are a lot of better things to do in LA unlike most of the country in February.
davew128 says:
Why/how could you illegally stream a football game in LA that was available live on broadcast tv and free on CBS Access?
Michael Edits says:
St Louis Chargers, anyone?
boltbacktosd says:
thats because LA is filled with Charger fans (sarcasm).
Im surprised the NFL allows its sponsors to roll out the commercials weeks in advance. Thats the only reason my wife watches.
babygaga19 says:
Look man, the whole LA scene is bout being cool, acting cool and partying cool. You get that dawg? Wes got more thangs to do and party on bout than sports. If you aint hipping, you're not tripping.
SeenThisB4 says:
The reality is that the preponderous of the Los Angeles area populace would be more interested in watching the World Cup, especially if Mexico were playing.
chipper41 says:
More kneeling will increase the interest in LA
derp363 says:
I think i know the solution: we need to add 2 more teams to LA.
kentsterling says:
The Rams left St. Louis because the various governments in and around St. Louis refused for too long to provide enough funding for a meaningful upgrade to the Jones Dome, or participate at a meaningful level in the funding for a new stadium. If St. Louis would have dug deep in 2012, the Rams would still be there.
LA still had more viewers watching than any other market other than New York at almost 2.5 million viewers. I'm Sure the NFL will take that any day.
LAFan101 says:
You can always count on the rubes from flyover country to rag on L.A. on here. The reality is that this is a long-term deal for the NFL. The 44.6 Super Bowl rating in L.A. was the HIGHEST since 1996! Let me repeat, the Super Bowl rating in Los Angeles was the HIGHEST SINCE 1996! The East Coast based media and the goobers that come on here and comment on a city that most them have never visited or can't afford to live in is hilarious. The Rams are our legacy team. They have returned home. Soon they'll be playing in a state-of-the-art stadium. We have filled up the LA Memorial Coliseum these last three seasons. The Rams have a bright future being back in L.A. and new generations of Los Angeles Rams fans are being formed.
As for the Chargers, they should have stayed in San Diego, but if they win, they will have their niche audience as well. The Raiders will be the joke of the league once they move to Las Vegas after playing a season in San Francisco. Those carpetbaggers will have a sandbox stadium with no parking and tailgating and filled with opposing fans. The Vegas casinos are buying up all the seats. Now go ahead and downvote, RUBES. lol
ahzroc says:
"Tip the world over on its side and everything loose will land in Los Angeles." ― Frank Lloyd Wright
joma1969 says:
That's the most apples to oranges comparison of the day… NOLA purposely didn't watch because they were pissed, not because they were disinterested.
daddeeo says:
That's what happens when you go for a decade without a team then move TWO teams there at the same time. Not only do you create division, but you make it hard to associate with a team.
What a terrible terrible move by the NFL
thudsp says:
Watch the Rams games all year. Even at the end of the year the amount of empty seats and its worse for the Chargers! They are going to build that Taj Mahal that will be empty on game days especially if they aren't good.
Raider fans are punks and the reason why they couldnt make it is LA or Oakland twice. Nobody wants a piece of Raider fan. Maybe Las Vegas is perfect spot for these clowns!
Robert Thomson says:
I moved from New York to Florida five years ago. I notice people here in warm weather (like California) tend to do things rather than watch things. They are out playing tennis, golf, jogging or even just cooking out with friends. As a result, you tend to lose interest in spectator sports
slick50kc says:
Too much toxic masculinity for that fruit filled crowd. The LA football scene is exclusively college ball.
Dan Castor says:
The NFL in LA experiment is failing. At the expense of the Saints, they wanted the Rams in the Super Bowl against the Mighty Patriots, but glad it backfired. I am sure Saints-Chiefs would've garnered better ratings and most importantly a more exciting game.
rockystixxstone says:
So your telling St. Louis has almost 3million people and only 1.2M tv jokes. I think that is a little of there don't ya!
I can assure you those STL fans were way more passionate and supportive than current Rams fans but we know it was all about the greed of StanK, Goodell and jerry. Scumbags!
fmc651 says:
The NFL wanted a team in LA not LA football fans. Football fans in LA have the Trojans to watch.