海角大神

鈥淭he Rams are Back,鈥� bellows the Los Angeles Daily News鈥檚 once-in-a-generation聽six-inch headline, as the St. Louis National Football League franchise鈥檚 mascot bursts chest-first from between the words.

Both the St. Louis Rams and the NFL will be hoping Los Angeleno attitudes will mirror the media hype around the announcement that the team is returning to the City of Angels after a 21-year hiatus. But in the immediate wash-up from the decision, sentiment at street level reflects the culture of cautious affection L.A. bestows on all its sports teams.

鈥淚鈥檓 very excited for Los Angeles to have a football team again,鈥� says tax specialist Bianca Alapisco, who is out for a morning walk in the Sepulveda Basin recreation area聽with her baby. At 27, she is too young to remember those days, she says her father and brother remember the Rams' first stint in Los Angeles.

鈥淭hey even followed the team to St. Louis, keeping track of everything it did there,鈥� Ms. Alapisco says. But with a laugh adds that she鈥檚 also 鈥渉eard all those people talking smack about the Rams, calling them traitors and all that.鈥�

The NFL鈥檚 decision to relocate the team to the nation鈥檚 second-largest media market indicates its hope that Los Angelenos will embrace the returning Rams like Alapisco's father and brother. But in a city where allegiances have dispersed during the long absence of a local NFL team, it may be a patient task to rebuild a fan-base for the recently struggling Rams.

The Millennials who came of age without the Rams in L.A. have no connection to the team, experts say, but the older generation will be a hard sell.

Fans in Los Angeles have been spurned, says Edward Hirt, a specialist in sports fan聽psychology at Indiana University in Bloomington. 鈥淚t will take some repairing of聽 the relationship,鈥� he says noting that the effort to bring the team back聽 has not helped, exposing the naked financial calculus behind sports decisions. Fans have to be asking themselves, 鈥渉ow much can we put faith in this and warm up to the idea that they are back for good."聽

On the other hand, team owners聽can say "you need to support them or they may move again," Mr. Hirt points out, 鈥渂ut that鈥檚 not a good strategy, either,鈥� he adds with a laugh.

If you build it, will they come?

The lucrative deal will see sports tycoon Stan Kroenke's Rams eventually play at a new privately-funded stadium in Inglewood 鈥� in the meantime they鈥檒l play at L.A.鈥檚 famous, gigantic L.A. Coliseum. Cost estimates for the Inglewood stadium range wildly between $1.8 and $3 billion, but when complete it will be the NFL鈥檚 largest stadium, according to the Los Angeles Times.聽 But the question remains: 鈥淚f you build it, will they come?鈥� 鈥� or at least, 鈥渨hen will they come?鈥�

Despite the novel allure of a state-of-the-art stadium and a new team, some of L.A.鈥檚 diehard football fans聽are not moved by the impending return of the prodigal.

Danni Rogers, who calls himself a 鈥渉uge football fan鈥� and roots for the Green Bay Packers, mulls the聽prospect of attending a local game 鈥� he has been known to drive three hours to San Diego just to watch his beloved Packers play. But he won鈥檛 be giving his heart away to the new team too quickly. 鈥淚f they are playing the Packers, that would make it easier for me,鈥� says the 30-year-old choreographer.

The final approval for Mr. Kroenke's proposal that the Rams' move to L.A. came Tuesday聽night after all 32 NFL owners voted overwhelmingly in favor (30 to 2). They also voted on a competing joint-offer from the Oakland Raiders and San Diego Chargers to share a new stadium in Carson, Calif. The latter fell short of the required 24 votes; the result is that either the Chargers or the Raiders will be allowed to move to L.A., but not both 鈥� and they'll have to play in Kroenke's stadium.

Britton Shaw thinks the varying success of L.A.鈥檚 other signature sports franchises means the time is right for L.A. to welcome the Rams back, but he wants success.

鈥淜obe [Bryant] just retired,鈥� Mr. Shaw notes, towering over his pals near the basketball court as he ticks off the facts on his large hands. 鈥淎nd the Clippers are OK and the Lakers are having a pretty聽dry season, so there鈥檚 no revenues coming from basketball any time soon 鈥β� It鈥檚 awesome to have football. Once we get that stadium going and all that, we need a Super Bowl here,鈥� he says.

The economics of there and back again

It was largely the NFL鈥檚 strict television 鈥渂lackout鈥� policy that drove the Rams from L.A. to St. Louis at the end of 1994, after 49 years in the West Coast city. The blackout rule stipulated that if a stadium was not sold out 72 hours prior to a game, it would not be televised in the city where the game was played. This was based on the idea that broadcasting a game would hurt attendance. Half of all NFL games were blacked out in the 1970s, according to ESPN. The Rams often struggled to draw enough fans to either of their L.A. homes 鈥� the 90,000-capacity Coliseum (1946-1979) and later Anaheim Stadium (1980-1994).

But NFL suspended its blackouts in 2015 as most games were selling out, especially since the league鈥檚 definition of what qualified a sellout were somewhat relaxed. With L.A. second only to New York as an NFL media market, the changed policy adds weight to the economic sense behind the Rams鈥� return.

But authoritative voices in the L.A. sports world give no guarantees that Los Angelenos will be embracing the Rams on TV or at the stadium.

In his column following the decision, long-time sports journalist for the Los Angeles Times Bill Plaschke makes it clear that Los Angelenos are far from ready to decant a torrent of unconditional acceptance on their returning 鈥渇irst love鈥� 鈥� just as they do with all the other L.A. sports teams, the locals demand success and respect in return for their adoration.

鈥淔irst, we didn't ask you to come back.鈥� Second, we鈥檙e not paying you to come back,鈥� Mr. Plaschke writes. 鈥淪ports is not our obligation, it's our entertainment, and when the fun stops, we stop showing up. You lose, we're gone. You take us for granted, we're gone.鈥�

鈥淏ut there is much potential here,鈥� he adds. 鈥淣FL owns the sports landscape in nearly every community it exists. At least, everywhere else. And maybe here one day. But it's not going to be easy.鈥�