Arizona Cardinals Should Never Pull A Rams-London Job
By Scott Allen
Things in Arizona have changed a lot in the last five years since the Arizona Cardinals started playing in University of Phoenix Stadium. They have fans in the seats, or at the very least, all the tickets are spoken for. For the St. Louis Rams, their announcement yesterday that they will play a home game in London over each of the next three seasons signifies they have a little bit of a fan attendance issue. I could not see the Cards agreeing to play home games elsewhere. Once upon a time, that idea could have come to fruition.
The Rams in my opinion made a huge mistake moving their game next season against the New England Patriots to London. It was going to be the biggest draw on their home schedule in 2012. They’ve gone out and alienated their fan base more. Not even the recent All-Star coaching lineup they’ve put together can overcome something like this. The writing is on the wall and by 2015, the St. Louis Rams could find their way back in Los Angeles if another team doesn’t beat them there first.
The Rams will take a big public relations hit with this move and already have with their fans. It is not a popular move, especially taking away the most attractive home game on the schedule. I can only imagine if the Cards had made this move what the reaction would be. It could end up being a bigger PR nightmare for the Cards if they ever made a move like that. There are too many transplants. If the Cards had the Patriots on their schedule, which they don’t, they play at New England in 2012, however if they did and then moved it to London, this town would be in a rage of fit with all the transplants from Boston here.
The Cards though have seemed to have survived all the talk of moving elsewhere, giving away home games, which was once an idea several years ago in moving a home game or two to Mexico. That would have been a bad idea as well no matter how close Mexico is. The fact is, these are the ARIZONA Cardinals just as the Rams are the ST.LOUIS Rams, not the London Rams. If the NFL is so keep on moving a team there permanently, do it already. However I don’t think putting a team in London full-tie is a good idea either. It puts the eight teams a season that would have all that traveling at a dis-advantage, just as it does today with two teams a season.
I hope the City of St. Louis gets over this slap in the face soon though cause the people of St. Louis have already been spurned once, by these very Cardinals. For a team to leave twice, that’s historic.
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