Stan Kroenke: Rams don't have 'true home-field advantage'

Josh Peter | USA TODAY

Show Caption Hide Caption NFL wild-card round: Titans upset Chiefs, Falcons down Rams The Tennessee Titans upset the Kansas City Chiefs 22-21 at Arrowhead Stadium, while the Atlanta Falcons went on the road to beat the Los Angeles Rams 26-13.

LOS ANGELES — Stan Kroenke, owner of the Los Angeles Rams, said his team has lacked a true homefield advantage playing in the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum during its two seasons since returning here.

Kroenke said that’s one reason he’s excited about the team’s new stadium, which is under construction in nearby Inglewood and 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 Atlanta Falcons 26-13 in a wild-card playoff game played in his team's temporary home stadium. “We don’t really have it now.’’

Kroenke quickly added, “I shouldn’t say that because the fans were great,’’ and then 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.’’

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At the Memorial Coliseum this season, the Rams faced huge throngs of opposing fans, including in games against the Philadelphia Eagles and the New Orleans Saints. The Rams were 4-4 at home and 7-1 on the road during the regular season.

But on Saturday night, the Rams announced 74,300 tickets were distributed for the game, with a sizable contingent of fans on hand appearing to back Los Angeles.

After the game Saturday, Kroenke said he never had 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,’’ he 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.’’

Buoyed by the Rams finishing the regular season 11-5 a year after going 4-12, Kroenke said he foresees a Super Bowl championship for his team in Los Angeles.

“Absolutely,’’ he said. “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.’’

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