Rams move into Coliseum, hold open practice

Rams move into Coliseum, hold open practice

By Rich Hammond,

[www.dailynews.com]

It’s been 90 years since the Chicago Bears and Grange, their star halfback, traveled here for an exhibition at the Coliseum against a loosely organized team of college all-stars dubbed the Los Angeles Tigers.

The Coliseum’s first (unofficial) pro football game took place in daylight, because it had no lights in 1926. Now the iconic stadium shines brightly as the unlikely home of an NFL team for the first time in 22 years. The venue, and part of town, once given up for dead by owners soon will become vibrant on Sundays.

The Rams moved in Saturday afternoon, and held an open practice that drew nearly 30,000 fans. It marked a homecoming for a team that played in the Coliseum from 1946-79, then spent 15 years in Anaheim before a two-decade St. Louis sojourn. Los Angeles’ original major pro sports franchise has returned to its roots.

“For those people to be able to come back and bring their child or even grandchild, I don’t mean to sound corny, but it’s so special that it’s off the charts,” Coliseum general manager Joe Furin said this week.

Next Saturday, the Rams host Dallas in the preseason opener, so while Saturday’s practice was billed as a fan event, its practical purpose was as a dry run for a stadium that hasn’t hosted the NFL since 1994.

The Rams simulated a game situation, from player parking to locker-room setup to communication among coaches, even down to assistant coaches attempting to navigate the Coliseum’s sparse elevator setup.

“It’s just to get us into the groove,” said Bruce Warwick, the Rams’ director of operations. “When we show up next week against the Dallas Cowboys and there’s 80,000-plus people there, that’s not the time to figure things out.”

The Coliseum hasn’t been vacant. The Rams left in 1979, followed by the Raiders in 1995, but USC never left. And while the Coliseum has been a serviceable home for a college football team, it is 93 years old and in dire need of more than a fresh coat of paint.

USC has pledged $270 million in upgrades, to be completed before the start of the 2019 season, but the Rams will be gone by then, off to their to-be-built $2.4-billion stadium in Inglewood.

So, the Coliseum upgrades became reprioritized, and some were completed this summer ahead of schedule. All eight of the major lighting stanchions were redone, with brighter and more energy-efficient LED lights. Upgrades were made to communications, electrical, plumbing and sewer systems.

NFL-mandated security procedures now require all fans to walk through metal detectors and prevent them from bringing most bags into the stadium. Otherwise, Rams and Coliseum officials say, most of the logistics of game days will remain the same.

“The Rams have been extremely accommodating,” Furin said, “to the point of saying, `If it works on Saturday, there’s no point in reinventing the wheel. Make it work on Sunday.’ They recognize that they’re a guest, a tenant. We want to make them feel at home.”

To the greatest extent possible, the Coliseum looked like the Rams’ place. Many of the red USC-themed banners and stadium art were covered by blue and white Rams banners. The locker-room floor still has a large interlocking “SC” logo, but the walls were covered in Rams items.

“We wanted the inner bowl and the locker room to kind of feel like a home game,” Warwick said. “We’re in no rush to do every single space in the Coliseum. They’re going to see a lot of USC stuff, but at least on television and in the stadium, it will look like a Rams game.”

The Rams and the Coliseum made things look good Saturday, but still face significant challenges, some of which have no feasible solution. Locker-room space, for instance, will be cramped.

Parking will be a challenge, in terms of availability and cost. Saturday’s “free” practice came with a $20 parking charge, and a lot across the street from the Coliseum was charging $40 per car.

Three times this season, USC and the Rams will play on back-to-back days. An enormous amount of resources will be required to clean the stadium and change over all the internal signage.

“It is frenetic, and people will be running hither and fro, but it’s what we do,” Furin said. “We swap over. We’ve gone from USC football to soccer games. We’ve had changeovers in the past. This is just another one. It might be a little more complex, but it’s just more bodies at 3 in the morning getting it done. It’s not necessarily the easiest thing in the world, but we have confidence that it’s going to happen.”

Then there’s the field. The grass, even after a normal practice, receives a lot of wear and tear. Should USC play a night game and the Rams follow with a 1 p.m. game, the Coliseum crew might have only 12 hours to make the grass look playable.

“Sure, it’s going to take some wear and tear,” Warwick said. “During our bye weeks, we’ll see if they can re-sod some things, but we’ll figure it out. They’ve got a good grounds staff.”

There will be issues down the line, also. The major parts of USC’s Coliseum renovation will take place in 2018, while the Rams are still tenants, and the pending demolition of the neighboring Sports Arena will cost Coliseum officials some of their storage space and staging arenas for stadium workers.

Still, there’s optimism, even among players, who, Warwick noted, will be happy to be playing outside and on grass, as opposed to their previous domed home in St. Louis.

It’s also, in some cases, a personal homecoming. Rams safety T.J. McDonald played four years at the Coliseum for USC and joked that he would attempt to reclaim his own locker at the start of the season.

“I’ve tried to think about it, and how I’m going to feel, but I can’t really put it into words,” McDonald said. “I’ve just got to do it. After leaving there, I never thought I’d be playing there again. I think it’s a blessing, and I’m excited. I can’t wait for the opportunity.”