Rams ticket sales far ahead of last year, despite the lockout

Lockout, what lockout? While fans across the country have tuned out the NFL even more than they usually do in June and July, fans of the St. Louis Rams are tuning in and turning on to a franchise poised for big things. If season ticket sales are any indication, fans are more excited than they've been in a long, long time for Rams football.

Rams fans renewed season tickets at a 94 percent clip, the highest rate in more than a decade, reports Bernie Miklasz of the PD in his column today. In addition to the high rate of renewals, the Rams doubled their new season ticket salesthis year, exceeding 4,000 season tickets sold already. 

Fixing the talent on the field is the mot obvious, most necessary ingredient to bringing alienated fans back into the mix. GM Billy Devaney has certainly led an effort to do that. He and his staff, notably COO Kevin Demoff, also deserve credit for restoring the fan base via other routes, like offering season tickets for the bargain price of $250 a seat. Sure, those are altitude seats, but that's a very reasonable rate to enjoy the experience of 8 NFL games and a couple of preseason spectacles. 

It's also a good sign for the future of the team, particularly the future of the team in St. Louis (with my apologies to TST's rather sizable contingent of Californios). Tickets sales means profits, and it also makes it easier to get a new stadium deal done when the time comes in 2014.