After 20 NFL seasons, five playoff appearances, three divisional championships, two conference championships, and one Super Bowl Title, The St. Louis Rams are no longer a St. Louis team.

The Rams will be heading to Los Angeles, Calif. for the 2016-2017 NFL season. NFL team owners met Jan. 12, 2016 to vote on the fate of the Rams. The vote was 30-2, according to NFL.com.

Sophomore Leann Delargy disagrees with the NFL’s decision.

“The Rams belong in St. Louis, and they’re taking away a big part of St. Louis,” Delargy said.

Special education teacher Chris Buenniger understands the decision, but still disagrees.

“From a business standpoint, it’s a good move,” Buenniger said. “But for the fans it sucks.”

The St. Louis Rams first came to St. Louis in 1995, and won their first and only Super Bowl in 1999 against the Denver Broncos. This will mark the second time a St. Louis professional football team relocates to a new city.

Freshman John Duncan was raised as a Rams fan, and doesn’t like seeing them leave.

“I liked the Rams because my brothers and dad liked them, and they’re the hometown team here,” Duncan said. “There’s no more games in St. Louis to go to. I used to go to games all the time.”

Buenniger has been a Rams fan for a long time.

“I love football and have been watching football since I was a little kid,” Buenniger said.  “I’m a St. Louis sports fan, so any team in St. Louis I will cheer for.”
The Rams will play in the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum next year, a stadium the USC Trojans play at. But cheering for the Rams in Los Angeles could be more difficult, according to Delargy.

“I don’t know if I will still support them, it would be different calling them the L.A. Rams instead of St. Louis Rams,” Delargy said.

Buenniger has considered many options for who to cheer for next as well.

“The Super Bowl happened exactly how I wanted it to, because I might want to be a Carolina Panthers fan because I really dig Cam Newton,” Buenniger said. “I didn’t want them [the Panthers] to win so everyone would say, ‘Oh you’re just a bandwagon fan.’”

Rams fans now have the choice of either cheering for the Rams while they’re in Los Angeles, or root for another team, or possibly even root for no one at all.

“Maybe I’ll cheer for whoever’s on my Football Fantasy team,” Buenniger said.