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Rams home opener? Packed
By Bill Coats
ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
09/23/2009
Even if the economy were bullish, the Rams would be facing a bear of a challenge to fill seats at the Edward Jones Dome. The team has lost 29 of its last 34 games — including 12 in a row — and fans are increasingly unwilling to dig deep into their pockets to support it.
Stadiums packed with energized, enthusiastic fans aren't a given in the NFL these days. League commissioner Roger Goodell recently estimated that 20 percent of this season's games could be blacked out on local television by not selling out.
The Rams won't reach that nadir, at least for the first week. The home opener on Sunday vs. Green Bay is only a few hundred tickets away from a sellout, thanks in large part to Green Bay fans who flock to other cities to watch the Packers because they can't get tickets at home.
The second home game, Oct. 4, vs. Minnesota, probably will fill the house, too, thanks to the presence of Vikings quarterback Brett Favre.
"We appreciate Mr. Favre's contribution," said Kevin Demoff, the Rams executive vice president of football operations.
After that, it's anyone's guess for the last six home games.
Demoff declined to say how many season tickets the club has sold for the season. "We have a very solid base, but it's not where we want it to be," he said.
As for the percentage of renewals they received, Demoff would say only that the Rams are "slightly above the league average," where renewals are down significantly. Jacksonville, for example, lost about 17,000 of its 42,000 season-ticket holders from last year.
"And we'll have other markets that'll have those challenges," Goodell told reporters earlier this month. "Our clubs have been working hard in the offseason to create other ways to try to get people in the stadiums."
For the Rams, that has meant not raising prices and overseeing $30 million in upgrades to the stadium, including high-tech scoreboards; new paint schemes and lighting intended to brighten the building; a large sports bar open to all; upgrades in the suite areas; and more high-end accommodations.
"Everything we've done this year has been driven by the fans," Demoff said. "From the changes at the dome to the changes on the field to the changes in the coaching staff … all have been focused on providing a better experience on the Sundays when our fans are in the dome."
Selling tickets wasn't always a problem. The team's first 100 games — regular season and playoffs — after moving to St. Louis from Los Angeles in 1995 were sold out. But at the end of the 2006 season, as the Rams were finishing up their third straight year without a winning record, the team failed to fill the house for a Christmas Eve contest against the Washington Redskins.
Since then, five other games haven't sold out, almost a third of the last 16 games at the 66,000-seat dome. Corporate ticket buy-ups prevented several others from being blacked out.
Two of the eight home games drew less-than-capacity crowds last year, when the Rams posted their worst record — 2-14 — in their 14 seasons in St. Louis. The average attendance for those two contests was 55,535.
Rams quarterback Marc Bulger said sellouts are "a reward for playing well." The Rams reaped those benefits during their "Greatest Show on Turf" run, when the dome was regarded as one of the loudest stadiums in the NFL, as well as one of the most difficult venues for visiting teams.
Conversely, the punishment for playing poorly is a depressed fan base, resulting in diminished ticket sales and empty seats.
But does a filled stadium have an impact on what happens on the field? It sometimes depends who they are cheering for. When nearly 30,000 Packers fans came to the dome in 2007, many Rams players complained it was like playing in Green Bay.
That could be the case again Sunday.
"Whether we play away or we play at home, I tell the players just to worry about what happens between the white lines. If you have to have all the other things, then something's wrong," first-year coach Steve Spagnuolo said. "But do you get a little bit of extra juice? Yeah. That's just how it works. (The players) like to hear a little bit of support."
Said Bulger: "You can definitely feed off the crowd."
A sellout helps in other ways, too, because it means the games can be televised locally. NFL rules require that a game sell out 72 hours before kickoff to avoid the local blackout. "There's no better advertisement for the Rams than putting games on live TV," Demoff said.
Yet the best seller will be if the Rams come out on top on those glitzy new scoreboards.
"When we start winning games," Bulger said, "our fans will be back."
By Bill Coats
ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
09/23/2009
Even if the economy were bullish, the Rams would be facing a bear of a challenge to fill seats at the Edward Jones Dome. The team has lost 29 of its last 34 games — including 12 in a row — and fans are increasingly unwilling to dig deep into their pockets to support it.
Stadiums packed with energized, enthusiastic fans aren't a given in the NFL these days. League commissioner Roger Goodell recently estimated that 20 percent of this season's games could be blacked out on local television by not selling out.
The Rams won't reach that nadir, at least for the first week. The home opener on Sunday vs. Green Bay is only a few hundred tickets away from a sellout, thanks in large part to Green Bay fans who flock to other cities to watch the Packers because they can't get tickets at home.
The second home game, Oct. 4, vs. Minnesota, probably will fill the house, too, thanks to the presence of Vikings quarterback Brett Favre.
"We appreciate Mr. Favre's contribution," said Kevin Demoff, the Rams executive vice president of football operations.
After that, it's anyone's guess for the last six home games.
Demoff declined to say how many season tickets the club has sold for the season. "We have a very solid base, but it's not where we want it to be," he said.
As for the percentage of renewals they received, Demoff would say only that the Rams are "slightly above the league average," where renewals are down significantly. Jacksonville, for example, lost about 17,000 of its 42,000 season-ticket holders from last year.
"And we'll have other markets that'll have those challenges," Goodell told reporters earlier this month. "Our clubs have been working hard in the offseason to create other ways to try to get people in the stadiums."
For the Rams, that has meant not raising prices and overseeing $30 million in upgrades to the stadium, including high-tech scoreboards; new paint schemes and lighting intended to brighten the building; a large sports bar open to all; upgrades in the suite areas; and more high-end accommodations.
"Everything we've done this year has been driven by the fans," Demoff said. "From the changes at the dome to the changes on the field to the changes in the coaching staff … all have been focused on providing a better experience on the Sundays when our fans are in the dome."
Selling tickets wasn't always a problem. The team's first 100 games — regular season and playoffs — after moving to St. Louis from Los Angeles in 1995 were sold out. But at the end of the 2006 season, as the Rams were finishing up their third straight year without a winning record, the team failed to fill the house for a Christmas Eve contest against the Washington Redskins.
Since then, five other games haven't sold out, almost a third of the last 16 games at the 66,000-seat dome. Corporate ticket buy-ups prevented several others from being blacked out.
Two of the eight home games drew less-than-capacity crowds last year, when the Rams posted their worst record — 2-14 — in their 14 seasons in St. Louis. The average attendance for those two contests was 55,535.
Rams quarterback Marc Bulger said sellouts are "a reward for playing well." The Rams reaped those benefits during their "Greatest Show on Turf" run, when the dome was regarded as one of the loudest stadiums in the NFL, as well as one of the most difficult venues for visiting teams.
Conversely, the punishment for playing poorly is a depressed fan base, resulting in diminished ticket sales and empty seats.
But does a filled stadium have an impact on what happens on the field? It sometimes depends who they are cheering for. When nearly 30,000 Packers fans came to the dome in 2007, many Rams players complained it was like playing in Green Bay.
That could be the case again Sunday.
"Whether we play away or we play at home, I tell the players just to worry about what happens between the white lines. If you have to have all the other things, then something's wrong," first-year coach Steve Spagnuolo said. "But do you get a little bit of extra juice? Yeah. That's just how it works. (The players) like to hear a little bit of support."
Said Bulger: "You can definitely feed off the crowd."
A sellout helps in other ways, too, because it means the games can be televised locally. NFL rules require that a game sell out 72 hours before kickoff to avoid the local blackout. "There's no better advertisement for the Rams than putting games on live TV," Demoff said.
Yet the best seller will be if the Rams come out on top on those glitzy new scoreboards.
"When we start winning games," Bulger said, "our fans will be back."
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