NFL to LA: Pat Haden

By Jordan Moore on January 14, 2016 2:23 PM | No Comments

Written by Caroline Deisley, USC blog contributor

The Los Angeles Rams are officially returning home, 22 years after relocating to St. Louis. The NFL voted on Tuesday afternoon 30-2 in favor of moving the St. Louis Rams to the new Inglewood stadium, while also giving the San Diego Chargers a one-year option to join the Rams in the same stadium that is set to be completed by 2019.

In the meantime, the Los Angeles Rams will share a home with the USC Trojans at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. USC athletic director Pat Haden, who was a quarterback for the Rams from 1976-1981, spoke to a few media members on Wednesday to explain the impact of the NFL's decision on the Coliseum and its renovation plans.

"It's great for NFL fans here in Los Angeles," said Haden. "Playing for them was a wonderful experience for me to be able to play my entire high school, college and professional career here in Los Angeles... It's going to be really nice to call them the Los Angeles Rams again."

Since the Trojans and Rams will be sharing a stadium, plenty of decisions need to be made in the next few months to ensure that the Coliseum is suitable to house both teams for the time being. Haden outlined a few of the biggest concerns saying that the first priorities are field maintenance and the Coliseum's lights.

"There are certain NFL standards that must be met like lighting for example," explained Haden. "The field, the condition of the turf, is really great with one team, but with two, it's something we're going to be talking about what we might want to do. There's probably a whole variety of other things that we haven't thought about that we'll work through over the next few months."

Here is USC AD Pat Haden's full response to the return of the Los Angeles Rams...

NFL to LA: Pat Haden

NFL to LA: Pat Haden

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