Looking for new vibes? Book a ticket to ride.
Jul 23, 2020, 12:10 PM | Updated: 12:11 pm
Week 10: Seattle at Los Angeles Rams, Nov. 15, 2020, 1:25 p.m. Pacific
SPONSORED – You know that feeling when an old friend gets a new home and you can’t wait to see what the new digs are like?
Well, that’s what this November game is going to feel like against this divisional opponent. The Rams moved back to Los Angeles four years ago, but they’ve been playing over at the Coliseum while this new palace was constructed. The Coliseum is a classic venue, but it’s big and circular and not designed specifically for football.
The SoFi Center is opening this year, and it is a sight to behold with a fixed roof that covers the playing surface and the surrounding walkways, but is open on the sides. It’s also got an absolutely immense video screen suspended in the middle, called the Occulus. It weighs 2.2 million pounds so the person who said everything is bigger in Texas obviously didn’t get a load of this.
It makes sense that Los Angeles would make a big deal out of the size of the screen. This is the home of Hollywood after all, and I’ll admit, that I’m a sucker for Southern California. Some of that has to do with my family’s history there. My Dad grew up down here, one of nine children in a family that lived in Montrose, which is a little postage stamp of a city over by Glendale. When I was growing up in Klamath Falls, Ore., our summer vacation was to go and see his family and my ever-expanding brood of cousins. Some families go to the Grand Canyon. Others to Europe. We packed up the family hatchback and drove the 600-some miles in one day down to the house where he grew up. There are more than 30 first-cousins in my generation of my father’s family.
L.A. has always meant fun whether it was going to Manhattan Beach or Magic Mountain or Raging Waters. And while these days I’m most often choosing between a trip to In-n-Out burger or trying to find one of Roy Choi’s Kogi BBQ trucks, it is one of my favorite spots on Seattle’s schedule.
Arrival: You’ve certainly got options. Alaska Air has a wide selection of flights daily from Sea-Tac to Los Angeles International (LAX). That’s going to get you closest to the state-of-the-art new stadium in Los Angeles though Alaska also flies to Orange County (SNA) and to Ontario (ONT) if you’re interested in nearby alternatives.
Stadium: SoFi Stadium is opening this year on the site where the Hollywood Park Racetrack used to be located, about 3 miles east of LAX. It’s home to both the Rams and the Chargers and is scheduled to host the NFL title game in 2022 and the college football championship game the year after that.
Last time here: Seattle is 1-3 on the road against the Rams since the franchise returned to Southern California. All of those games were at the Coliseum. The positive sign: Seattle’s points keep increasing. Seattle was held to a field goal in a 9-3 loss in Week 2 2016, which was when regular-season football returned to this stadium. Seattle won 16-10 in 2017 and scored 31 points in a 36-31 loss last November.
Dining: Mrs. Knotts Chicken Dinner (8039 Beach Blvd., Buena Park, CA, 714.220.5055); Kogi Barbecue has multiple options whether it’s their three food trucks or multiple taco stands. The best reference is the website: https://kogibbq.com/.