Spoke with a PSL holder.

bnw wrote:

he could not see public financing for a stadium after this mess.

Even if the public financing is not used for a stadium for the Rams?

What I keep hearing is, St. Louis is the only place to build 2 venues within 25 years, and that the credit that has earned could lead to another team ending up in St. Louis.

Hopefully, this time, without a stupid “top 25% of NFL venues” stipulation.

Just thinking out loud here. I have no particular view, just an open mind and some thotz.

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It’s gonna be ugly at the dome this year. Rams will not have a single game with a normal, home crowd.

Anyone who asks StL fans to “support the team” the way Fisher has blithely done is asking one helluva lot that flies in the face of human nature.

Kroenke has led an organization to treat this as a waste year. He’s given nothing to the fans, no hope, no encouragement. Nary a damn thing.

I don’t care how much the actual team improves, holds level, or regresses. On field performance is not going to neutralize Kroenke’s stink in the stadium. Indeed, as I have said before, perhaps the cruelest thing for a StL fan to endure would be the team FINALLY getting over the hump and showing the success that LA will be able to enjoy.

Ugly. Ugly. I am sure Fisher will be encouraging an us-against-the-world mindset among the players. It’s gonna be a long damn year without a real home. I can just imagine training camp. Pre-Season games. Home games. Ugh!

I just hope Fisher stops making inane remarks that insult the fans’ intelligence and belittle the pain they’re feeling.

None of this is meant to take a side on whether they go or stay. I won’t be affected either way. I just want everyone to be honest about what the loyal StL fan is having to wade through. And about what the vibe around the team will almost certainly be.

I can’t imagine that that vibe won’t cost the Rams a couple home games this year. I bet they play better on the road!

• This reply was modified 9 years, 7 months ago by rfl.

personally i would not buy a psl seat just to keep the rams in my hometown.

i can just follow them on television.

these guys get enough of our money as it is. don’t need to fork over more money just to see them build some ridiculous stadium.

just think it’s about time we as fans say we don’t really need you that much.

i say this of course as i pay my ridiculous cable and internet bills along with sunday ticket. ha!

wv wrote:

What ‘should’ Fisher say, btw?

w
v

Well. Here’s the thing … IMO.

Fish has one major responsibility: the team. When it comes to players and coaches, he is absolutely right to set it all aside. Don’t ever let it become an issue. Condition his players to never think about it. Focus on playing good football. Disciplined thinking.

Now, Fish does that. Except that he then tends to extend his plea for that mindset to the fans. To ask THEM not to pay attention to the looming betrayal of their hopes.

I don’t have the quotation right now, but Fish recently answered the question of how the fans might be expected to react. He said, as I recall, I would hope that they would come out to enjoy good football and support an improving team.

If I were a PSL holder, I’d be incensed by that blithe expectation that I should set aside my bleak expectations of the team’s betrayal of my trust. That I should support an improving team whose upward trend I won’t be able to enjoy after a decade of support through the morass. That somehow I was responsible to the same code of disciplined tunnel vision regarding the future that is appropriate for the pros getting paid by the team.

Horse manure. A ridiculously insensitive remark.

OK, what should Fish say? Of course, I don’t ask him to betray his trust regarding the team or to undermine the organization. Of course not. Fact is, he shouldn’t say much. If anything at all. He might well decline to comment: You know, it’s a tough situation. We can’t let ourselves get caught up in all that. We just need to focus on our jobs. No harm in that!

If he wanted to refer to the fans, he could, without betraying ownership, throw them a bone of appreciation. Some minimal recognition of the support already received and the difficulty of continuing to support the team. You know, the fans have hung in there through some trying times. We appreciate their patience and support, and we hope they can sticky by us during a challenging year. Whatever happens, we’ll be out there busting our tails for them.

Is that so hard? I don’t think so.

Fish is in a tough spot and he has to put blinkers around the team’s awareness of the situation. But he ought to understand that the fans are NOT bound by any need for discipline, that they are being asked to swallow a pretty crappy sandwich, and that there is no earthly reason why anyone should EXPECT them to support the team this year.

Say nothing about the fans? Fine. Want to say something? Then show them respect. You don;t have to throw Stan under the bus to do that.

ZN =

Even if the public financing is not used for a stadium for the Rams?

What I keep hearing is, St. Louis is the only place to build 2 venues within 25 years, and that the credit that has earned could lead to another team ending up in St. Louis.

See Turner Field for Atlanta Braves……built in 1997, will be replaced in 2017….

RFL =

It’s gonna be ugly at the dome this year. Rams will not have a single game with a normal, home crowd.

Anyone who asks StL fans to “support the team” the way Fisher has blithely done is asking one helluva lot that flies in the face of human nature.

Kroenke has led an organization to treat this as a waste year. He’s given nothing to the fans, no hope, no encouragement. Nary a damn thing.

See 1994 Rams….The threat of relocation dominated talk about the Rams from early in the offseason right up to the moment the move was announced and it had a major effect on the franchise’s standing in the market.[2] Average attendance for Rams games at Anaheim Stadium was at an all-time low (an average of 43,312 a game) as ownership negotiated with both Baltimore and St. Louis.

I have a cousin who is a PSL holder. He’s not reupping his tickets this year. He’s done. He doesn’t hear anything from the franchise until they want his money. It’s definitely going to be a weird year, and I expect a significant drop in attendance. Even more than that, I expect little excitement locally for this team. Who wants to closely follow a lame duck team?

Joe, it sounds like it will be almost exactly like 1994, except in reverse.

bnw –

I’m shocked too. Turner Field was an excellent ballpark each time I was there. I wonder why they would want to rebuild so soon?

Turner field was built in part to support the 96 Olympic games…. Turner field does not have a good parking in downtown ATL.The new stadium will be built outside of ATL.

I remember the “Launching Pad” (Fulton County stadium) more so than the Turner field. In part because the Braves were on TBS almost everyday during baseball season. the Braves had the biggest friggin homers doing play-by-play baseball games on TV when their biggest stars were Dale Murphy and Bob Horner…..