The on-again, off-again ticket sales for the St. Louis Rams’ game against the New England Patriots next season in London resumed again this past Monday, February 6, 2012, the NFL said.
Ticket sales had been suspended four days earlier after officials from the St. Louis Convention and Visitors Commission said the Rams’ lease requires that all Rams home games be played at the Edward Jones Dome in St. Louis.
The Rams are scheduled to play the AFC champion New England Patriots Oct. 28 at Wembley Stadium in London. The NFL announced in January that this game would be the first of three because the goal is to have St. Louis “host” one regular season game in London each of the next three seasons.
A statement on NFLUK.com, the league’s website in Great Britain that is selling tickets to the game, read: “The Rams have achieved a resolution to the stadium lease issues that caused last week’s delay in the sales process and are excited about bringing their team to London.”
The agreement to play the London games is part of larger negotiations over the Rams’ lease with the Edward Jones Dome, which is set to expire after the 2014 season. Last week, the Convention and Visitors Commission presented the team with a plan that calls for $124 million in stadium improvements, and would satisfy the lease’s requirement that the dome be in the “first tier” or top 25 percent of NFL stadiums. The Rams said they are reviewing the proposal.
Rams season ticket holders were offered a refund for the cost of the London game or given a chance to purchase tickets to the game. NFL commissioner Roger Goodell has previously said the league hopes to one day have a team permanently in London as part of its plan to expand the NFL’s international reach.
The desire for the NFL to broaden its reach overseas coupled with Rams owner Stan Kroenke’s lack of commitment to the franchise’s long-term future in St. Louis and Kroenke’s ownership of the Arsenal soccer club in the English Premier League have led to speculation that the Rams are test-driving a move to London. If the Rams moved to London, they would be the second NFL team to leave St. Louis. The Cardinals moved to Arizona after the 1987 season.
St. Louis has struggled on the field and at the gate in recent years. The Rams have totaled 15 victories over the past five seasons and were next-to-last in the NFL in attendance in 2011, averaging 56,394 fans per game at the 66,000-seat dome.
Another relocation possibility for the Rams is a return to Southern California, where the team played from 1946 to 1994. Los Angeles, the second-largest media market in the country, has been without an NFL team since the Rams came to St. Louis in 1995. Adding fuel to that theory is that Kroenke could potentially be bidding on Major League Baseball’s Los Angeles Dodgers, who are up for sale.
