Comparing absolute attendance figures from the last 10 years to the 1980s is a joke, right? The NFL is many times more popular now than it was then, and attendance has risen accordingly. It's like saying today's Honda Civic is the same as an '80s Mercedes because they cost the same.For a minute, I thought I was wrong for the double standard. But re-examining this and I don't think so. The LA Rams sucked from 1990 to 1994. 5 whole years. That's nothing. The Rams in St. Louis have had the worst run in NFL history over the last 12 years. I'll give you the 1990-1994 Rams sucked and the attendance dropped, but what about right before that. Right before that the LA Rams were not just good, they were really, REALLY good:2) You stopped addressing how excusing poor attendance because of a poor record in St. Louis but not LA isn't contradictory.
1989 - 11-5
1988 - 10-6
1987 - 6-9
1986 - 10-6
1985 - 11-5
1984 - 10-6
1983 - 9-7
During those monster seasons playing in a huge stadium with a population that far outpaces that of St. Louis, the LA Rams had less attendance than the St. Louis Rams in 2014 who had not seen a winning season since 2003. ELEVEN years!
Here's something from the local media here in St. Louis:
I can't find a link, but the local radio guys have been jumping on the stat that during that wonderful run by the LA Rams, they had less attendance per year than the St. Louis Rams have the last 7 years after so many years of absolutely terrible football.In 1984 the LA Rams went 10-6, made the playoffs, and had future Hall of Famer Eric Dickerson rushing for an NFL record 2,105 yards and 14 touchdowns.
The '84 Rams averaged 54,455 per home game that season.
In 2014 the Rams posted their 11th consecutive non-winning season with the owner plotting to haul the team away.
The '14 Rams averaged 57,018 per home game.
Eagerly awaiting an encyclopedia response to this argument, but if the attendance numbers for the LA Rams from 83 to 89 are indeed under the St. Louis Rams numbers during the last 7 years years, coupled with the fact that an expansion team was gift wrapped to the LA market, then I stand by the fact that LA just doesn't care about football as much as those in St. Louis. Even when the Rams were good in LA, the far smaller St. Louis Market is more eager to have an NFL team than the LA residents.
In the years you mentioned, here are the LA Rams' attendance ranks:
1983: ranked 15th of 28 teams
1984: 17/28
1985: 15/28
1986: 10/28
1987: 18/28
1988: 17/28
1989: 11/28
Middle of the pack every year. There wasn't a single year where there weren't at least 10 teams drawing fewer fans.
St Louis Rams attendance ranks last 7:
2009: 29/32
2010: 30/32
2011: 31/32
2012: 30/32
2013: 31/32
2014: 30/32
2015: 32/32
At or near the bottom every year.
LA data here: http://losangelesrams.org/about/statistics/attendance.html
St Louis data here: http://espn.go.com/nfl/attendance