History of the NFL in Los Angeles

The National Football League (NFL) has had an interesting history in Los Angeles, the second-largest media market in the United States, behind only New York. Los Angeles became the first city on the West Coast to host an NFL team when the Cleveland Rams moved there in 1946. They played at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum until 1979.

In 1960, the Los Angeles Chargers, a team in the American Football League, began playing in the same Coliseum. The Chargers moved to San Diego after one season, and later joined the NFL when the leagues merged. The Rams moved to nearby Anaheim, California in 1980. In 1982, the Los Angeles Raiders arrived from Oakland.

Both teams left Los Angeles before the 1995 season due to divided fan support and damage from the 1994 Northridge earthquake. The Raiders went back to Oakland, and the Rams moved to St. Louis, Missouri. For over 20 years, Los Angeles had no NFL team, even though it was the largest media market in the country.

The NFL returned to Los Angeles in early 2016, when the Rams got approval to come back for the 2016 season. Today, Los Angeles is home to the Los Angeles Rams and the Los Angeles Chargers, who returned from San Diego. The two teams now share SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, which opened in 2020.

Origins of football in Los Angeles

The first NFL team to use the name Los Angeles was the Los Angeles Buccaneers. This team was actually based in Chicago and played its games away from home. This happened because the people who ran the Los Angeles Coliseum did not want professional teams to play there, and traveling across the country was very hard back then.

Later, in 1937, another team called the Los Angeles Bulldogs started playing in Los Angeles. They played at a stadium that is now part of (CBS) Television City. Many different leagues tried to get teams started in Los Angeles over the years, but it was a challenging time for football here.

NFL in Los Angeles: 1946–1994

Los Angeles Rams

Main article: History of the Los Angeles Rams

In 1946, the Cleveland Rams moved to Los Angeles, becoming the first NFL team on the West Coast. They played their home games at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, sharing it with college teams like the USC Trojans and UCLA Bruins. The Rams helped end a long-standing rule that stopped African-American players from playing in the NFL by signing players like Kenny Washington and Woody Strode.

The Rams became a strong team, winning many games and even reaching the Super Bowl in 1979. However, they were unhappy with the Coliseum because it was hard to sell out games, and the area was sometimes seen as unsafe. They also struggled to find enough parking. After trying to get a new stadium in Los Angeles without success, the Rams moved to Anaheim in 1980 to play in Anaheim Stadium.

Los Angeles Raiders

Main article: Los Angeles Raiders

In 1982, the Oakland Raiders moved to Los Angeles and became the Los Angeles Raiders, playing in the same Coliseum. Their owner, Al Davis, hoped to bring in more money by changing how games were shown on TV and by updating the stadium. However, these plans didn’t work out as he hoped.

The Raiders kept winning games, even winning the Super Bowl in 1984. But they faced many challenges, like trouble selling tickets and issues with the stadium. Because of this, the NFL decided not to show their home games on a popular TV show after 1985. Eventually, Davis looked for other places to move but stayed in Los Angeles for several more years.

1995: Both Los Angeles franchises leave

Rams move to St. Louis

In the early 1990s, the Rams' owner, Georgia Frontiere, looked for a new home for her team because it was falling behind other teams. She talked with St. Louis and Baltimore, two cities that wanted an NFL team. Anaheim and Orange County also tried to make a deal, but they could not agree on paying for improvements. Fans were upset and attendance dropped. St. Louis offered a new $280 million domed stadium with many luxury boxes, and the Rams moved there in February 1995. The Rams played their last game in Los Angeles on Christmas Eve in 1994, losing to the Washington Redskins.

Raiders return to Oakland

After the Rams decided to leave, NFL owners approved a plan to build a new stadium for the Raiders in Los Angeles. But the team’s leader, Al Davis, did not agree to share the stadium with another team. Because of this and the costs to fix the Coliseum after the 1994 Northridge earthquake, Davis decided to return to Oakland, California. The Oakland Coliseum was renovated to hold more fans and add luxury boxes. The Raiders played their last game in Los Angeles on Christmas Eve in 1994, losing to the Kansas City Chiefs.

Two decades without a team

Los Angeles did not have an NFL team from 1995 to 2015. A big problem was that any new team needed to play in the old Coliseum or Rose Bowl, or a new stadium just for the NFL had to be built.

In 1996, the owner of the Seattle Seahawks tried to move his team to Los Angeles. He moved some office stuff to a school in Anaheim, hoping to play at the Rose Bowl until a new stadium could be built. But other NFL teams were worried about the league looking unstable, so they voted against the move. The Seahawks stayed in Seattle, and a new stadium called Lumen Field was built there in 2002.

In 1999, the NFL almost gave Los Angeles a new team, the league’s 32nd. But the city and the NFL couldn’t agree on where to build a stadium or how to pay for it. So, the new team went to Houston instead, becoming the Houston Texans.

During these years, many NFL teams talked about moving to Los Angeles to pressure their own cities into building new stadiums. By 2015, more than half the league had threatened to move there to get new stadiums built. Some people thought using Los Angeles as a threat was more helpful to the NFL than actually having a team there.

Even without teams, NFL games were still very popular to watch on TV in Los Angeles. Many people there grew up supporting teams from other cities. Some thought that adding a Los Angeles team might hurt TV ratings, but others weren’t sure if local fans would really support a new team. The area already loved college football, with big games from the USC Trojans and UCLA Bruins. Some people believed that Los Angeles fans didn’t feel as connected to NFL teams as fans in cities like Cleveland or Buffalo did.

2016: The NFL returns

See also: The Dome at America's Center § The loss of the Rams (2012–2016), San Diego Chargers stadium proposals, and Oakland Coliseum § Eventual replacements

In 2014, the owner of the St. Louis Rams bought land in Inglewood, California, to build a new stadium. By early 2016, three NFL teams—the Rams, the Oakland Raiders, and the San Diego Chargers—applied to move to the Los Angeles area because of problems with their current stadiums.

On January 12 and 13, 2016, NFL owners met and voted. The Rams' plan to build in Inglewood received more support. The Rams returned to Los Angeles, and the Chargers had the option to join them later. The Rams played at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum from 2016 to 2019 before moving to their new stadium, SoFi Stadium, in 2020.

After the 2016 season, the Chargers moved to Los Angeles and played at the StubHub Center (now Dignity Health Sports Park) until 2019. They then moved to SoFi Stadium in 2020, sharing it with the Rams.

NFL results between Los Angeles teams

Raiders vs. Rams

Chargers vs. Rams

Football stadiums in the Los Angeles area

SoFi Stadium

Main article: SoFi Stadium

SoFi Stadium is in Inglewood, California where the old Hollywood Park Racetrack used to be. It is where the Los Angeles Rams, the Los Angeles Chargers, and the LA Bowl play. The stadium was built between 2016 and 2020 and can hold 70,240 people for most games, but up to 100,240 for big events. It hosted the Super Bowl LVI in February 2022 and the College Football Playoff National Championship in January 2023. There is also a place to watch shows called the YouTube Theater that holds 6,000 people.

Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum

Main article: Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum

The Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum was built in 1923 and is one of the biggest stadiums in the United States. Many football teams have played there over the years, including the Los Angeles Rams from 1946 to 1979 and again from 2016 to 2019 while their new stadium was being built. It was also where the Los Angeles Chargers played in 1960 and where the Super Bowl I game was held in 1967.

Anaheim Stadium

Main article: Angel Stadium

Anaheim Stadium, now called Angel Stadium, is where the Los Angeles Angels baseball team plays. It is in the city of Anaheim. It was built in 1966 and was changed in 1980 to make space for the Los Angeles Rams football team. The Rams played there until 1995. The stadium is now used mainly for baseball and sometimes for high school football games.

Rose Bowl

Main article: Rose Bowl (stadium)

The Rose Bowl in Pasadena was built in 1922. It is famous for hosting many Super Bowl games. It has never been a permanent home for an NFL team, but it was considered as a place for a team to play for a while. In 2006, people in Pasadena voted against spending money to fix up the Rose Bowl for football.

Dignity Health Sports Park

Main article: Dignity Health Sports Park

Dignity Health Sports Park is on the campus of California State University, Dominguez Hills in Carson, California. It is mainly used for soccer but sometimes hosts college and high school football games. The Los Angeles Chargers used it for training before moving to SoFi Stadium.

Past proposals

Main article: Proposed Los Angeles NFL stadiums

Dodger Stadium site

There were quiet talks about building a football stadium near Dodger Stadium. Plans were reported in 2005 but were denied by the teams involved.

Carson

In 2015, the Los Angeles Chargers and Oakland Raiders planned to build a stadium in Carson, California. But in January 2016, the Los Angeles Rams were approved to return to Los Angeles, so the Carson plan was stopped.

City of Industry

Edward P. Roski planned to build a stadium in the City of Industry to attract a football team. Construction was waiting for the NFL to agree to move a team there.

Downtown Los Angeles

Plans were made to build a stadium called Farmers Field in downtown Los Angeles. But in March 2015, the plans were stopped because no team agreed to move there.

Non-NFL gridiron football activity

Los Angeles has had many football teams that were not part of the NFL. The Southern California Sun played in Anaheim from 1974 to 1975. Another team, the Los Angeles Express, played from 1983 to 1985.

The Arena Football League had several teams in the Los Angeles area. The Los Angeles Cobras played one season in 1988. The Anaheim Piranhas played from 1996 to 1997. The Los Angeles Avengers played from 2000 to 2008. The LA KISS played from 2014 to 2016.

Other leagues also had teams in Los Angeles. The Los Angeles Xtreme won a championship in 2001. The Los Angeles Temptation played for two seasons before moving. Most recently, the LA Wildcats played in the second XFL.

In fiction

When Los Angeles did not have a real NFL team, many movies, TV shows, and books created pretend teams from the city. These stories sometimes used fake teams to avoid using the real NFL's names.

For example, in an episode of Entourage, a character named Ari Gold gets a chance to run a pretend NFL team called the "LA Gold". In Psych, a story involves a player from a fake team called the L.A. Thunderbirds. The movie Against All Odds features a team named the L.A. Outlaws, and The Last Boy Scout uses the L.A. Stallions. Books and video games also made up teams like the Los Angeles Leopards, LA Dreams, L.A. Riot, and LA Bulldogs. Even The Simpsons had an episode where Los Angeles did not have a real team.