Eric Dickerson said Rams have ways to go to win over city: 'Los Angeles is a Raider town'
LOS ANGELES — Even though the Los Angeles Rams will be playing in their second Super Bowl in four years, Hall of Famer and former Rams running back Eric Dickerson said Tuesday the team still has a ways to go to win over the city.
SoFi Stadium has gained a reputation for having more away fans than home fans. Case in point: the massive amount of San Francisco 49er fans at during the Week 18 matchup and the NFC championship game. Dickerson explained the team has to build back the bridge it had with it once had with the city.
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"The Rams were gone for (sic) 22 years. That's like all of a sudden, I'm gonna go outside and take the trash out and I come back 22 years later, 'Hey, honey, I'm home!' Where the hell you've been for 22 years? The Rams have not been here, so they have to expect a little push back, a little draw back," Dickerson told Paste BN Sports at the Los Angeles Convention Center on radio row.
"I think we're trying to build that fan base back up, and I don't think we'll have a problem doing it. I mean because right now, I'll just say it: This is a Raider town. Los Angeles is a Raider town," he added.
The Rams could win their first Super Bowl as a Los Angeles team, with their Super Bowl 34 win coming when they were in St. Louis. A victory against the Cincinnati Bengals in Super Bowl 56 would make them the first Southern California team to win it all since the-then Los Angeles Raiders in 1984.
After spending 21 seasons in St. Louis, the Rams made their way back to Los Angeles at the start of the 2016 season, playing at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum for four seasons before opening up their new home of SoFi Stadium in 2020. Even though this is the stadium's second year of use, Dickerson said it was great for the franchise to make the Super Bowl in their first season with their fans in the stands. (Last year, the franchise did not have fans at home due to the coronavirus pandemic.)
Despite not having the full city support, Dickerson said the Rams winning a Super Bowl would help align them alongside other Los Angeles pro teams. Los Angeles trails only Boston (six) for the most combined championships across the four major U.S. professional sports since 2010, with the Kings winning the Stanley Cup in 2012 and 2014, the Dodgers winning the 2020 World Series and the Lakers winning the 2010 and 2020 NBA Finals.
"LA is a sports city. It really is. You got the Dodgers. You got the Lakers. You got the Kings. We (are) used to championships here. This is something (that's) not nothing new," Dickerson said.
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