The Rams estimated attendance at yesterday's team scrimmage at Concordia University in Mequon, Wisconsin, six hours from downtown St. Louis, at 2,000. Attendance at last year's scrimmage, held at the "Russell Training Center" or whatever in Earth City, Mo., about half an hour from downtown St. Louis, was estimated at 1,500. (And no, the Cardinals weren't in town that weekend last year.)
The Rams website has an article up in which the team's most visible individuals, QB Marc Bulger, WR Torry Holt and head coach Scott Linehan, are all practically gushing at the way Wisconsin locals have shown up to watch the team practice. Linehan makes a remark in the article about hoping more Rams fans will come up in the future. I can't tell if he is encouraging Rams fans or cajoling us.
The evidence is, more people in Wisconsin are showing up in August to watch practices of a team that isn't even theirs than show up in St. Louis to see their hometown team.
Does this trend hold true throughout the week? No, not from what I've seen reported so far. Was St. Louis 12-15 degrees hotter this time last year than Wisconsin is now? I suspect yes. And of course Scott Linehan wants to make the decision to move training camp look good - it was his!
But there's no shaking that attendance figure, assuming we can trust its veracity, and there's no shaking that the Rams are immediately using it to embarrass St. Louis fans from their very own website. The Rams' whole PR campaign this summer has been more about embarrassing fans into showing up than anything else. Oh, and highlighting the opponents like the Giants, Cowboys and Bears who'll likely be better draws because of their large national followings.
If St. Louisans doesn't think this franchise isn't already building its case to move again, they're not paying attention. And the fact that Rams' training camps are better attended when they're moved six hours away is pretty damning evidence.
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