Los Angeles Rams

Los Angeles, welcome back to showtime

Published Jun. 30, 2017 6:28 p.m. ET

foxsports

Christmas Eve, 1994. The Los Angeles Rams took on the Washington Redskins at Anaheim Stadium. They lost, 24-21. For the Rams, the defeat concluded a miserable 4-12 season and capped a seven-game losing streak. The game was played in front of 25,705 fans.

Meanwhile, at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, the Raiders fell to the Kansas City Chiefs. They would miss the postseason, finishing 9-7. The crowd was much larger in Los Angeles proper, bringing in 64,130 spectators.

Come 1995, there would be no more NFL to watch in the City of Angels. The Rams were leaving for St. Louis. The Raiders were moving back to Oakland.

For the following 22 NFL seasons, Los Angeles lay dormant. The Rams would cruelly win a Super Bowl in 1999. They did so with the Greatest Show on Turf, a team made for the bright lights of Los Angeles, Instead, the good folks of St. Louis got to indulge in the spectacle, leaving Tinseltown to watch from half a country away.

For years, Los Angeles desperately tried to lure an NFL franchise back. In plain thinking, it made no sense for America’s most popular sport to not have a franchise in its second-largest city. Due to stadium issues and financing roadblocks, the dream seemed worlds away.

Then, it happened. The San Diego Chargers, Raiders and Rams all applied to relocate for Los Angeles. With a viable stadium proposal in hand, Los Angeles was able to officially reel in the Rams on Jan. 12. The Chargers may join them before the 2019 NFL season, when the 80,000 stadium costing $2.6 billion will be ready.

In the interim, Los Angeles has the NFL back. The Rams will play in the L.A. Memorial Coliseum, the site of the first Super Bowl. It was also the team’s home from 1946-79.

For fans of an older generation, this is a franchise coming home. Los Angeles was long a tentpole of the NFL, consistently setting attendance records with its large, grandiose venue. Then the Rams moved to Anaheim in 1980 largely due to the NFL’s outdated blackout policy. It was a mess, and the beginning of the end.