Kroenke: Rams don't have 'true home-field advantage' after playoff loss
Los Angeles Rams owner Stan Kroenke said his team does not have a "true home-field advantage" after losing to the Atlanta Falcons 26-13 in a wild-card playoff game played in the relocated franchise's temporary home stadium at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.
The Rams have been playing in the Memorial Coliseum since returning to Los Angeles from St. Louis in 2016, and the team's new stadium under construction in nearby Inglewood is expected to be ready by the 2020 season.
"In two years we'll be in a new stadium, and I think we can have a true home-field advantage like a lot of the teams do,'' Kroenke told USA Today Sports after the Rams lost to the Falcons on Saturday night. "We don't really have it now.
"I shouldn't say that because the fans were great.'
Kroenke, 70, compared the 93,607-seat Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum to the Minnesota Vikings' 66,655-seat stadium, U.S. Bank Stadium, which opened in 2016 and will host Super Bowl LII on Feb. 4.
"Have you been up there?'' Kroenke said. "That is a true home-field advantage because it's so loud, it's packed, it's new.''
The Rams faced huge numbers of opposing fans for some home games this season, going 4-4 at home and 7-1 on the road during the regular season. The Rams finished 11-5 after going 4-12 last season.
Kroenke said he has no concerns about whether the city would support the team.
"I've been around L.A. a long time, and I know L.A. loves the Rams,'' Kroenke said. "I know the fans embrace the team, and I go around this town and people talk to me about it. We're here. We don't have a good facility. It's the Coliseum. This place is cavernous. It'll swallow up 65,000, 70,000 people.''
Kroenke is pleased with the Rams' turnaround season and foresees a Super Bowl championship for his team in Los Angeles.
"Absolutely,'' he told USA Today. "I believe that strong. We've won them before (in the 1999 season in St. Louis), so let's go do that again. How soon? I don't know.
"We have a good young team. Everybody's really excited, I think, because they know that we're young and we improved a lot and we can get better yet. I know our guys believe that. It's exciting. And the city's a wonderful place. They truly have embraced the team.''
--Field Level Media
