Can the Rams woo L.A. fans?
The team spent years in St. Louis. McVay should now boost local bonds
I hopped out of my Uber and decided to just walk. The Super Bowl was nearly four hours away, but the traffic near SoFi Stadium was already impossible. The only thing more difficult than reaching 25 mph was finding a house in the neighborhood I was in that seemed to care that the Super Bowl was being played a few blocks away.
There were more residents standing on corners Sunday with signs about available parking than signs celebrating the local team that was playing in the biggest sporting event of the year. Perhaps SoFi’s neighbors aren’t football fans. Maybe they root for the San Francisco 49ers or Las Vegas Raiders. Or maybe near Manchester Avenue and Crenshaw Boulevard they don’t care enough about the Rams to hang a pro-Rams sign.
Sean McVay is in a position to change that — if he stays.
Rumors had been swirling for a significant chunk of the season that McVay — the youngest coach ever hired by an NFL team and now the youngest to win the Super Bowl — was considering leaving the Rams if they won the Super Bowl. The 36-year-old is a disciple of Jon Gruden, minus the homophobia and racism that recently came to light. Gruden famously made the smooth transition from star coach to TV star before returning to coaching after a decadelong absence. The thinking was that McVay, who has been really good in his handful of guest appearances in the booth, would follow suit. This sentiment gained steam after he was asked if he saw himself coaching into his 60s.
“At some point too, if you said, ‘What do you want to be able to do?’ I want to be able to have a family, and I want to be able to spend time with them, and I also know how much time is taken away during these months of the year,” McVay said.
Ah, yes: work-life balance — a concept that has made the unexpected transition from being seen as a woman’s issue to one of the main drivers of the Great Resignation. Of course, normally we don’t hear NFL coaches talk about spending more time with their families. At least not without a controversial issue forcing them out of their dream job. But here was someone expressing a desire to be active in his children’s lives and not being afraid to leave coaching to do it. He has since reiterated a desire to remain with the Rams, telling the sportswriter Ian Rapoport, “I’m committed to this team and coaching.”
McVay is also under contract until 2023. The assumption is he will get a huge extension considering he’s managed to lead a team to four playoff appearances, three division titles and one championship in five seasons. And who knows, maybe this chatter about him leaving is just a ploy to get that big payday. But if McVay is still weighing his options, may I offer up the homes near the corner of Manchester and Crenshaw as reasons he should stay on as coach.
SoFi may be the Rams’ house, but the franchise still has a ways to go to make Los Angeles a true Rams city. But McVay could get it there — if he stays.
The first time I met him was at an industry party in Houston during the Super Bowl in 2017. He was energetic and charming and so knowledgeable about NFL history that I was beginning to wonder if he was being fed factoids through an earpiece. He was the life of the party — no small feat considering Dwyane Wade swung by — and after about an hour of listening to him express his love of the game, I was ready to run across the middle for him. The joy you see on the sidelines during games is not an act — that’s genuinely him.
Now, despite all the talk about visiting teams taking over SoFi on Sundays, the Rams do have a loyal fan base; it just doesn’t have the same “us versus the world” fervor that the Lakers and Dodgers enjoy in the good times and rely on when times are rough. Shiny new stadiums and sleek marketing can’t produce this kind of devotion. Neither do wins and losses. That can happen only over time. And McVay is young enough to become the next Pat Riley or Tommy Lasorda, if he’s willing to invest the time. He has the leadership qualities. He has the ring. What he doesn’t have are 10-year-olds who have known nothing but the Rams. The team was on hiatus in L.A. for more than 20 years, and the Rams need to regain a foothold with young fans. If McVay wants a challenge, a next act, getting the city to really care over generations should be it.
I was walking around Santa Monica on Saturday, and there were so many orange jerseys on the boardwalk, I thought I was in Ohio. McVay does not need to be yucking it up in a booth with men old enough to be his father. Take that charisma that has seduced television executives into thinking he can be a star and instead use it to breathe life into the faint idea that there is room in this Lakers and Dodgers town for his Rams.
He has the résumé. He has the personality. He just needs more time.