George R.R. Martin Doubts L.A. Fans Will Support a Losing NFL Team

George R. R. Martin doesn’t think much of Angelenos when it comes to being good sports fans. 

A day after it was announced that Los Angeles would once again have an NFL team thanks to the Rams coming back from St. Louis, the Game of Thrones author, also a football fanatic, cast doubt on whether the move would be successful. 

While expressing his sadness for Rams’ fans losing their team, Martin wrote: “St. Louis is a great town. A great sports town. L.A. isn’t.”

Martin also touched on the San Diego Chargers possibly moving to L.A., saying in part, “L.A. has not proven it can support one NFL team, let alone two.”

Excitement may be high in L.A. right now, after all, there hasn’t been an NFL team in town for 21 years, but fandom and loyalty will quickly dwindle if the team is not good, Martin observed. 

“Will L.A. support the Rams? Maybe at first. Novelty always counts for something. And after too, so long as they are winning. But if they start to lose? Don’t count on it,” Martin waxed. “There’s a reason both the Rams and the Raiders left L.A. back in 1994.”

Martin said he attended Rams’ games back in the day when the team played at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum — also where they will play until a new stadium is constructed in Inglewood — and tickets were easy to come by because no one went to the games. 

“I just walked up to the box office on game day and said, ‘I’d like a ticket.’ Good seats too,” Martin wrote. “The Coliseum was always half empty at the games I attended (mostly when the Jets or Giants were visiting). And half of the people who were there seemed to be rooting for the visitors.”

“But maybe this time will be different. Maybe,” he added. 

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