Tag: SoFI Stadium

Cooper Kupp makes his feelings known about playing on turf vs. grass

Cooper Kupp left no doubt about where he stands on the turf vs. grass debate

It’s impossible to prevent injuries in football, but one factor can play a significant factor in helping to limit them: the playing surface. As stadiums more frequently install artificial turf surfaces, players and coaches have shared their opinions on the differences between playing on turf and natural grass.

It’s always a hot topic, but Sunday’s Chargers-Seahawks game sparked the conversation again after J.C. Jackson and DK Metcalf suffered non-contact knee injuries. On Thursday, Cooper Kupp was asked for his take on the debate and he left no doubt about what he’d rather play on.

“It’s not even close,” Kupp said via ESPN. “I know there’s stuff going around the league right now, there’s some issues. Hands down, we should be playing on grass. Hands down, we should be on grass. And that’s all I’m going to say.”

SoFi Stadium, which just opened in 2020, has a turf field. And when Kupp was asked about his team’s home stadium being any different, he politely danced around the question by saying, “We should be on grass.”

Back in 2018, Kupp tore his ACL at the Coliseum while playing against the Seahawks, but that injury occurred on natural grass.

Of the 30 stadiums in the NFL, 14 use turf. Players feel there’s a greater risk of injury on artificial fields, but it doesn’t seem like a mandated change to grass is coming anytime soon.

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Sean McVay on hostile environment at SoFi Stadium against Cowboys: ‘It was challenging’

McVay said that #Cowboys fans at Sofi Stadium presented a challenge to the #Rams in Week 5

The Los Angeles Rams have been on a bit of a skid in recent weeks, and their fans didn’t turn out at the rate that the team had hoped for in their Week 5 loss to the Dallas Cowboys. At times, it seemed that SoFi Stadium was the Cowboys’ home turf, and head coach Sean McVay was acutely aware of the disadvantage that his squad had given the circumstance.

In his comments to the media after the game, he recounted the experience of playing in a hostile environment in the team’s native market. It is hard enough to win games in the NFL, let alone at home with the opponent’s fans creating a raucous environment at inopportune times.

“It was challenging,” McVay said of the situation on Sunday. “They’ve always been a team that’s traveled well, but we got to give them something to cheer about. Particularly when we’re on offense and we [have] got to be able to play more consistently on special teams.”

Despite the adversity caused by Dallas’ fans, McVay made no excuses for his team’s poor performance in Week 5. They slipped further down in their divisional standings, and solutions to their problems on offense will need to be found in short order to ensure that their season doesn’t get too far out of hand.

With twelve regular season games left to punch their ticket to the playoffs, Los Angeles still has plenty of time to get back on track and give their fans a reason to turn out in droves on Sundays. As the incumbent Super Bowl champions, the Rams have met high expectations with lackluster performance so far in 2022 but could make a major rebound this week against the Carolina Panthers, who fired their head coach Matt Rhule on Monday morning.

It will take a concerted effort on both sides of the ball to get back on pace to make waves in the postseason, but with McVay at the helm, anything is possible.

‘They show up in L.A.’: Cowboys fans expected to invade SoFi as Rams prep for extra noise at home

Sean McVay is readying the Rams to use a silent count at their own stadium as the always-popular Cowboys come to town. | From @ToddBrock24f7

The NFL recognizes only “home” and “away” designations for teams each game. But this Week 5 in Los Angeles, the Cowboys could unofficially be considered the “home-away-from-home” team in their battle with the Rams.

America’s Team always travels well, drawing a healthy contingent of fans wherever they play their road matchups, but this Sunday the home squad is preparing for SoFi Stadium to be taken over by fans wearing the opposing silver and blue.

Cowboys defensive end DeMarcus Lawrence is used to it by now.

“When the Cowboys make a big play, you can see the momentum shift inside the stadium,” he said on 105.3 The Fan this week. “You can hear our crowd, see our fans. It’s a beautiful thing to see the Dallas fans wherever we go.”

Maybe not so beautiful, though, for the hosts and defending Super Bowl champs.

Rams coach Sean McVay told reporters this week that the team has been pumping in extra noise during their practices to get ready for Cowboys Nation’s significant presence. He even allowed that there may be times when quarterback Matthew Stafford will have to shift to a silent count to counter their volume with the home team’s offense on the field.

The Rams had to use a silent count multiple times in their own building in Week 1 versus Buffalo, as the Bills Mafia also managed to turn SoFi Stadium into a quasi-home game. Said Stafford after that meeting, “It wasn’t something that we haven’t done before.”

Except it’s actually been an ongoing issue for both Los Angeles teams.

Before the NFC conference championship in January, the Rams had to publicly ask fans not to sell their tickets, for fear of 49ers supporters making the trip from San Francisco and taking away home-field advantage. Nevertheless, McVay later said the Rams were “caught off guard” by the opposing fanbase’s attendance.

In addition to having an often-disproportionately large number of followers everywhere, the Cowboys have an extra-loyal presence in the L.A. area thanks to their longstanding summer residency in Oxnard dating back as far as 2001 and in Thousand Oaks from 1963 to 1989. Many Southern California fans also adopted the Cowboys during the years when Los Angeles didn’t have a professional team.

The result? A road trip that always feels a lot like coming home for those wearing the star.

“Cowboys Nation most definitely showed,” receiver CeeDee Lamb told reporters this week as he remembered a visit in Week 2 of 2021. “They show up in L.A. Last year when we played the Chargers, it was kind of the same scenario: definitely felt like a home game in L.A.”

The Cowboys beat the Chargers that day by a 20-17 score. They topped the Chargers there again back in August during a preseason match, 32-18. The only time they’ve played the Rams in SoFi was the first game ever played in the stadium, an eerie season opener that Dallas lost by just three points to the home team in an empty building due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

There will most definitely be fans this time around.

Only there may be more rooting for the visiting Cowboys than their hosts.

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Mater Dei hosts St. John Bosco in first No.1 vs. No. 2 matchup since 2019

Top-ranked Mater Dei hosts No. 2 school St. John Bosco in the best high school football game this week.

This weekend, you won’t have to look hard to find the best high school football matchup. The top two schools in the country will be facing off. Mater Dei (Calif.) is ranked No. 1 on our Super 25 list, and on Friday, they will be hosting No. 2 ranked St. John Bosco (Calif.).

The Monarchs come into this week 6-0, having seen one competitive game so far. In their second game of the year, they defeated national powerhouse Bishop Gorman (Nev.) by a score of 24-21. They are led by junior quarterback Elijah Brown, who has posted 17 touchdowns, two interceptions and a 135.3 QB rating so far this season.

As for the Braves, they also come into this game undefeated at 6-0. It’s been all blowout victories for them so far. They have outscored their opponents by a total of 291-21. St. John Bosco’s quarterback is senior Pierce Clarkson. He has thrown 13 touchdown passes, four picks and has a 116.9 QB rating.

These two schools were in talks to play this game at SoFi Stadium, home of the NFL’s Chargers and Rams. St. John Bosco was open to doing so, but in the end, Mater Dei decided against it, so they’ll be at their home Santa Ana Stadium.

In their most recent meeting last season (October 1, 2021), Mater Dei won 42-21. Brown threw five touchdown passes and the Monarchs ran for 113 yards on 31 carries, while the Braves were held to just 52 yards on 19 attempts.

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Jaguars WR Marvin Jones Jr. to be honorary captain vs. Chargers

Marvin Jones played high school football about 60 miles east of SoFi Stadium.

Jacksonville Jaguars veteran wide receiver Marvin Jones Jr. will serve as the team’s sixth team captain in Week 3 for a road game against the Los Angeles Chargers, coach Doug Pederson announced Friday.

The Jaguars have five permanent captains — Trevor Lawrence, Brandon Scherff, Josh Allen, Foye Oluokun, and Logan Cooke — with a sixth decided by Pederson on a weekly basis.

Jones, 32, is the oldest player on the Jaguars roster and signed with the team in 2021 on a two-year deal. Last season, he was the Jaguars’ leading receiver with 73 receptions for 832 yards with four touchdowns. Through two games this year, he has seven receptions for 71 yards.

The California native went to high school in Rancho Cucamonga, a suburb about 60 miles east of SoFi Stadium where the Jaguars will play the Chargers on Sunday. After high school, Jones played college football for the California Golden Bears.

In four career games against the Chargers while with the Cincinnati Bengals and Detroit Lions, Jones is 4-0 with 11 receptions, 123 receiving yards, and one touchdown.

Mater Dei decides not to play St. John Bosco at SoFi Stadium

Well, so much for that idea.

Well, so much for that idea.

The top two high school football teams in the country might have played at the home of the LA Rams and LA Chargers later this season. However, one school has put the kibosh on the whole enterprise.

According to Eric Sondheimer at the Los Angeles Times, Mater Dei (Santa Ana) has decided not to play their matchup against St. John Bosco (Bellflower) at SoFi, though their opponents were willing.

Obviously, playing in an NFL stadium would have offered a much larger audience than these teams are normally accustomed to. SoFi Stadium has a capacity of 70,000 people and can get up to 100,000 for special events.

Odds are the Monarchs didn’t want to give up any advantage they might get from playing on their home field. So instead of playing on the big stage in Inglewood, they’ll host the Braves in Santa Ana on Friday, Oct. 7.

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Rams to unveil Super Bowl LVI banner at SoFi Stadium before Bills game

The Rams’ Super Bowl LVI win will have a permanent place at SoFi Stadium, with the team unveiling a banner on Sept. 8

The Los Angeles Rams won the Lombardi Trophy, they received their Super Bowl rings and now they’re getting one last thing to celebrate their championship season: a banner at SoFi Stadium.

Rams COO Kevin Demoff sent a letter to season ticket members on Thursday announcing that the team will unveil a Super Bowl banner next week, just before kickoff against the Buffalo Bills in the season opener. It will hang from the canopy roof at SoFi Stadium above the 500 level seats on the south side of the building, and will remain there for “all future years.”

Those who attend the season opener against the Bills will get their own commemorative banner, a replica of the one that’s being unveiled at SoFi.

To close out our Championship celebration, we will reveal a Super Bowl Champions banner from SoFi Stadium’s iconic canopy roof above the 500 level on the south side. This banner will commemorate our historic Super Bowl LVI win at SoFi Stadium, a stadium you made a terrific home-field advantage throughout the year. The banner will hang at every Rams home game this season, hopefully well into January, as well as all future years. In addition, all fans in attendance will receive their own commemorative banner inspired by our Super Bowl Champions banner.

Additionally, Demoff announced that there’s already a banner hanging at SoFi Stadium. It’s a banner to recognize the franchise’s first Super Bowl win from the 1999 season when the Rams played in St. Louis.

In Week 13 when the Rams host the Seahawks, they’ll celebrate Coach Dick Vermeil getting into the Hall of Fame, as well as the 1999 team as a whole.

When you get to your seats on Thursday night, you will see one banner already lowered celebrating our organization’s first Super Bowl victory following the 1999 season. Later this year, during our Week 13 game against the Seattle Seahawks, we will celebrate newly enshrined Hall of Fame Coach Dick Vermeil and the 1999 team, with both Super Bowl banners proudly displayed.

Fans can read Demoff’s complete letter here, where he also mentions some plans for the Super Bowl celebrations before the Week 1 game against Buffalo. Andrew Whitworth will lead the festivities, with highlights from last season being displayed on the Infinity Screen above the field. There will also be an augmented reality experience “you will not want to miss.”

All this will take place in just one week when the season kicks off in Inglewood.

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High School Football: Mater Dei, St. John Bosco in talks to play at SoFi Stadium

The two schools are in negotiations to play the game at SoFi Stadium, home of both the LA Rams and the LA Chargers.

The biggest high school football game of the year will occur on Oct. 7 when the nation’s top-two ranked teams meet. That’s reigning national champion Mater Dei (Santa Ana, Calif.) and St. John Bosco (Bellflower, Calif.)

At the moment, the matchup is scheduled to take place at Mater Dei’s home, Santa Ana Stadium. However, according to a report by Eric Sondheimer at the Los Angeles Times, the two schools are negotiating to play the game at SoFi Stadium, home of both the LA Rams and the LA Chargers.

(Photo by Katelyn Mulcahy/Getty Images)

The stadium opened two years ago at a construction cost of somewhere around $5 billion. It is built to hold up to 70,000 fans, but that number can be expanded up to 100,000 for major events.

Mater Dei has been named national champion in three of the last five years. Meanwhile, St. John Bosco was the state champion in 2016 and national champion in both 2013 and 2019.

Related: See the all-time USA TODAY Sports Super 25 champions

More: Check out the high school football start dates for each state here

Look: Rams’ season ticket gift package includes a patch of turf from SoFi Stadium

The Rams sent a gift package to their season ticket holders and it includes a patch of game-used turf from SoFi Stadium

Rams season ticket holders were treated to a magical 2021 campaign. Los Angeles went 12-5 in the regular season and went on to win Super Bowl LVI, which was held at SoFi Stadium. Considering it was the first season ever with fans at SoFi Stadium, things couldn’t have gone much better for those who had season tickets.

To celebrate the historic 2021 season, the Rams sent their season ticket members a gift package that included a piece of game-used turf from SoFi Stadium. A hat and 2022 member guide were also included in the box, a nice touch from the Rams.

Check out the video below as a fan on Reddit opened his gift box.

STM Gift Package Arrived Today! from LosAngelesRams

Here’s how much Rams ticket prices have increased in the last 15 years

The average price of a Rams ticket has gone up 63% since 2006, but that’s only the 18th-biggest increase in the NFL

Since moving to Los Angeles and hiring Sean McVay, the Rams have become one of the more exciting teams in the NFL. And after winning the Super Bowl in February, they’ve unquestionably established themselves as one of the premier franchises in football.

They had success previously in St. Louis, specifically during the Greatest Show on Turf era, but the Rams have had just one losing season in six years since moving back to Los Angeles – and it was in 2016 before McVay arrived.

Understandably, ticket prices have gone up pretty noticeably in the last 15 years, influenced by the opening of SoFi Stadium in Inglewood. But it’s not as if Rams tickets have increased in price as much as some other teams.

According to Action Network, the average Rams ticket price has gone up 63% in the last 15 years, from $63.71 in 2006 to $103.62 in 2021. That’s only the 18th-biggest increase percentage-wise in the NFL, and well below the league-leading Raiders (147%).

On the secondary market, Rams tickets are among the most expensive in the NFL. The average price of a ticket to a home game is $359, fourth-highest in the league.

That’s hardly surprising after the season they just had.