The Los Angeles Rams accepted more than 56,000 season ticket deposits during a four-week campaign propelled by the announcement last month that the team will be returning to Southern California.
The $100 refundable deposit gives fans priority the purchase season tickets this spring before the general public. The team reported more than 5,000 deposits in the first five minutes that the site was live Jan. 18.
The campaign closed Monday.
"We are inspired by how enthusiastically NFL fans in Southern California have responded to the return of the Los Angeles Rams," said Rams Chief Operating Officer/Executive Vice President Kevin Demoff. "We will reward their passion by providing a terrific game day experience at both the Coliseum this fall and ultimately in Inglewood. We can't wait to welcome our fans on Sundays and become an integral part of the Greater Los Angeles community."
Season ticket prices have not been announced.
The Rams will play in the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum before moving into a new stadium in Inglewood at the start of the 2019 season. The move was announced last month after an owners meeting in Houston.
The agreement also gave the Chargers one year to decided whether they will join the Rams in the Los Angeles area. The Chargers reached an agreement late in January with the Rams regarding a possible move, but the Chargers also announced they will play in San Diego in 2016.
U.S. & World
The Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum Commission is considering an amended lease with USC that would allow two National Football League teams to play at the Coliseum, which is also the home field of the USC Trojans.
The Rams finished 7-9 under coach Jeff Fisher, third in the NFC West and had a troubled attendance history in St. Louis, where a team that once produced the Super Bowl winning "Greatest Show on Turf" later struggled through a series of losing seasons. The team was consistently at the bottom of the NFL in attendance over the past decade.
The franchise played in Southern California for 49 seasons before owner Georgia Frontiere moved the Rams after the 1994 campaign. Owner Stan Kroenke won the three-team derby to return to the nation's second-largest market, enticing NFL owners with his impressive stadium plans and his team's ties to Los Angeles, where thousands of fans stayed true to the Rams during two decades away.
The new stadium, yet to be named, will be at the former site of Hollywood Park racetrack. But Kroenke, a billionaire land developer married to a Wal-Mart heir, is building more than a football stadium with the reported $1.86 billion Inglewood project, which also includes office space, shops, a concert venue and innumerable other enticements.
If the Chargers decline to partner with the Rams, the Oakland Raiders would then be given the chance to move to Inglewood -- making that team another potential temporary Coliseum tenant.
