Rams See Opportunities to Grow Business From Big Game

Before any Los Angeles Rams player has a chance to spike the football after a touchdown during the team’s upcoming appearance in Super Bowl LVI — and on their home field of SoFi Stadium in Inglewood — opportunities for the franchise to see spikes in its business operations is bound to happen as well.  First, expect a noticeable uptick in the Agoura Hills-based team’s overall valuation.  After the Tampa Bay Buccaneers won the 2021 Super Bowl, also on their home field, their valuation rose nearly 30 percent to $2.94 billion — more than twice the average team increase of 14 percent.  Various sources pegged the Rams’ franchise prior to the 2021 season at $4.8 billion based on its market size and the team’s performance over the last six seasons since they moved back to L.A. from St. Louis. This year marks the second Super Bowl appearance in three seasons to go with three divisional titles since Sean McVay took over as head coach in 2017.  The Rams at the moment may be not quite up there with the Dallas Cowboys ($6.5 billion), New England Patriots ($5 billion) and the New York Giants ($4.85 billion), but it’s not out of the question to see them shoot up to No. 2 and stay well ahead of their SoFi Stadium partner, the L.A. Chargers — 23rd at $2.92 billion, according to Forbes, or about $600 million below the league average.  On a more granular level, there is the likelihood of the team adding more corporate sponsors as well as justifying increasing prices for season seats and suite occupancy.  Patrick Rishe, director of the sports business program and a professor at Washington University in St. Louis, said it is “not uncommon” to see increases in those areas after a team experiences success, classifying them under what can be called a “financial halo.”  “It’s subjective for every organization,” said Rishe, who has taught sports business at UCLA, Loyola Marymount and Pepperdine during his career and knows the sports landscape in L.A. as well as in the Rams’ former home city. “The thing to realize, however, is the team being in L.A. and having the new stadium will have a much longer financial impact on the franchise’s business instead of just playing in this Super Bowl.”  That said, in a crowded sports marketplace and “a championship-orientated city like L.A., there is always a fight of having some degree of the fans being fickle with all the alternatives” of entertainment available, Rishe added.  Kevin Demoff, the Rams’ chief operating officer, sees many upsides to the team’s Super Bowl appearance at home that can translate into business opportunities.  “It’s an unpredicted opportunity for the Los Angeles Rams,” he said. “When you get a chance to play in a Super Bowl, that’s always a chance to win hearts and minds. When you get a chance to host a Super Bowl that obviously helps elevate your brand, the SoFi Stadium brand, the NFL in Los Angeles as a whole. When you combine those two it’s an unbelievably powerful mix to develop that next generation of fandom.   “It’s about kids who are 8, 9, 10 years old, growing up wearing Cooper Kupp jerseys, wearing Aaron Donald jerseys and becoming lifelong Rams fans,” he added. “When I grew up here, the Showtime Lakers were the gold standard,” Demoff said. “I was 12 when the Kings traded for Wayne Gretzky. Los Angeles is synonymous with winning and star power. That is a blueprint that has been provided for generations of Angelenos to understand how to win.”