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Rams feeling right at home in Thousand Oaks
The Los Angeles Rams practiced last fall at Cal Lutheran. (Photo by Michael Owen Baker, file)
By Vincent Bonsignore, Los Angeles Daily News
The sun beamed majestically off Mt. Clef peeking over the Rams team headquarters in Thousand Oaks recently, offering a soothing, peaceful setting from which the tasks of building and preparing a football team can be conducted.
It’s been more than a year since the Rams officially returned home to Los Angeles from St. Louis, and while the L.A. Coliseum will host their 10 home games per season until their new stadium in Inglewood opens in 2019, make no mistake, their day-to-day home base for now and likely the foreseeable future is nestled in Southwestern Ventura County some 35 miles away from downtown Los Angeles.
And for at least the next two years – or before they secure the necessary nearby land to build permanent headquarters – their football operations will be housed at the sprawling facility they’ve constructed at the northwest corner of Cal Lutheran University, and their business affairs will be conducted at offices they’ve commandeered 11 miles away in Agoura Hills.
So for now, this is home. And as the days and weeks and months pass by, the feeling of belonging grows stronger and stronger.
“Tell you what,” Rams general manager Les Snead said recently as he strolled the serine surroundings of his team’s football operation base. “I get it the new facility we eventually build will be beautiful with all the bells and whistles and modern amenities. “But it’s going to be hard to top what we have here as far as a setting. This is pretty nice right here.”
The desire to find a space conducive to quality work was part of the reason the Rams immediately honed in on the Thousand Oaks area as a home base. Cal Lutheran, in particular, jumped onto their radar after University President Mike Kimball cold called the Rams last year to pitch them on CLU has a training site.
“Because the Cowboys were here back in the day, there were folks around here saying: ‘Hey, you should get the Rams here just like the old days for the Cowboys’” Kimball remembers. “Which definitely made sense. Our thought was we’d try to attract them here for summer camp, just like the Cowboys.”
And that’s what Kimball initially proposed.
But the Rams were already looking south to Orange County for a training camp home, eliminating that as an option. The ultimately they decided on UC Irvine.
On the other hand, they were hoping to find space in the San Fernando Valley or Ventura county for their in-season home headquarters.
“I was like: ‘Ohh, OK. I’d never really thought about it along those terms.’” Kimball said.
The Rams were initially skeptical there was enough space on the CLU campus to build a suitable facility. But Kimball convinced them there was sufficient space tucked away behind their baseball and softball fields – and unseen from the main roads that bracket campus - backed up to Mt. Clef.
That led to Kimball giving team executives a tour of the available space, and soon after the ball got rolling toward a toward a two-year deal between the club and the school that included three one-year options that could extend the Rams stay at CLU to five years.
As part of the agreement, the Rams paid for and constructed two practice fields,paved a parking lot and built temporary modular buildings containing offices, training areas and locker rooms on the northwest corner of the campus.
The city of Thousand Oaks approved construction of the fields and parking lot as part of Cal Lutheran’s master plan, with the Rams turning everything back over to the university when they move to their permanent home.
“We are excited to partner with Cal Lutheran to use their exceptional campus as the temporary home for team facilities that will be outstanding for our players and football staff,” Rams Chief Operating Officer and Executive Vice President Kevin Demoff. “The Rams look forward to becoming an integral part of the Cal Lutheran and Thousand Oaks communities as we establish our roots in Southern California.”
The CLU facility is ample enough to house 130 athletes, coaches, trainers and other staff members. It officially opened last September, and is now a fully functioning year-round hub in which the Rams conduct offseason workouts and mini camps and all practice and recuperation functions during the regular season.
In addition, the Rams are offering opportunities to the Cal Lutheran community, including internships for students, while their operations are based on campus.
From the moment the agreement was announced, CLU’s world changed.
“I always joke that we’ve been here 50-plus years doing great education, but we got more attention from the Rams than we’ve got total any way else.” Kimball said. “The visibility is has been great.
A year later, the relationship is as strong as ever.
“From a University perspective, we could not ask for a better partner,” Kimball said. “They’ve been terrific. It’s just been great.
“Obviously, from our standpoint, when they move to their permanent home, we inherit all the stuff they’ve built and that’s great value for us,” Kimball continued. “But that’s down the line. In the meantime, they’ve been terrific in employing our students with internships. Their staff members have come talked to our classes and had groups go up to their facility to take a look around. So they’ve really been great partners for us in that way whether you’re talking sports management or sports broadcasting and that type of stuff. Which is great.
“And obviously the more time our name shows up in the papers and on TV, it’s great for us. It’s visibility.
Even before they were approved for relocation in January of 2016, the Rams had their eye on the west end of the San Fernando Valley and Ventura county for various reasons.
The need for open, continuous land with which to build the necessary facilities to train a football team led them to this part of Southern California, where land is more available. And the lower cost of living north of Los Angeles would make it easier for staff members making the move from St. Louis to Los Angeles to comfortably settle in.
Keep in mind, Los Angeles area housing market is three to four times as high as St. Louis, with a recent study by the National Association of Realtors indicating the median Los Angeles house sales price at $458,900 compared to $140,000 in St. Louis.
And with the Rams bringing so many staff members with them from Missouri, they wanted to make the transition as easy as possible by settling in a more affordable region.
The team is currently looking for at least 40 to 50 acres in the vicinity to build their permanent offices, although that process figures to unfold over the course of a number of years.
In the meantime, players and staff members have been steadily settling into the neighborhood with a number of players purchasing or renting homes in and around Ventura County and the San Fernando Valley.
The key for most is to be as close to the training facility as possible given the early hours they report to work and the long hours they remain on the premise.
That was the recommendation made to the team by former coach Jeff Fisher, a Southern California native who understood the importance of being within close proximity to counter the hectic traffic situation of Southern California.
Which is why Thousand Oaks, Agoura Hills, Simi Valley, Westlake, Calabasas and Woodland Hills have been particularly popular landing spots for the players.
And their presence – buying homes, shopping at local stores and frequenting area restaurants now and into the future - figures to help the local economy.
“It’s been a great thing from a community standpoint because again, the visibility factor is significant,” Kimball said. “You have people coming into the area, spending money. You have players and staff buying homes in the area. Their kids are going to local schools. You see them around town, at the stores.
“It’s been a real boon and I know the city is doing everything it can to make this be their permanent home.”
The Rams hope to make that the case long term – they’ve been impressed with the hospitality of local leaders and staff members enjoy the area - and have begun talking to cities in the area about possible options.
Ideally they’d would like to build a headquarters along the lines of the Dallas Cowboys 91-acre facility in Frisco, Texas, in which their corporate offices and football facilities sit amid an entertainment district, offices, a medical center and hotel.
The trick now is finding the necessary land to make it happen.
But for now, Thousand Oaks and Agoura Hills is feeling more and more like home.
[www.dailynews.com]
The Los Angeles Rams practiced last fall at Cal Lutheran. (Photo by Michael Owen Baker, file)
By Vincent Bonsignore, Los Angeles Daily News
The sun beamed majestically off Mt. Clef peeking over the Rams team headquarters in Thousand Oaks recently, offering a soothing, peaceful setting from which the tasks of building and preparing a football team can be conducted.
It’s been more than a year since the Rams officially returned home to Los Angeles from St. Louis, and while the L.A. Coliseum will host their 10 home games per season until their new stadium in Inglewood opens in 2019, make no mistake, their day-to-day home base for now and likely the foreseeable future is nestled in Southwestern Ventura County some 35 miles away from downtown Los Angeles.
And for at least the next two years – or before they secure the necessary nearby land to build permanent headquarters – their football operations will be housed at the sprawling facility they’ve constructed at the northwest corner of Cal Lutheran University, and their business affairs will be conducted at offices they’ve commandeered 11 miles away in Agoura Hills.
So for now, this is home. And as the days and weeks and months pass by, the feeling of belonging grows stronger and stronger.
“Tell you what,” Rams general manager Les Snead said recently as he strolled the serine surroundings of his team’s football operation base. “I get it the new facility we eventually build will be beautiful with all the bells and whistles and modern amenities. “But it’s going to be hard to top what we have here as far as a setting. This is pretty nice right here.”
The desire to find a space conducive to quality work was part of the reason the Rams immediately honed in on the Thousand Oaks area as a home base. Cal Lutheran, in particular, jumped onto their radar after University President Mike Kimball cold called the Rams last year to pitch them on CLU has a training site.
“Because the Cowboys were here back in the day, there were folks around here saying: ‘Hey, you should get the Rams here just like the old days for the Cowboys’” Kimball remembers. “Which definitely made sense. Our thought was we’d try to attract them here for summer camp, just like the Cowboys.”
And that’s what Kimball initially proposed.
But the Rams were already looking south to Orange County for a training camp home, eliminating that as an option. The ultimately they decided on UC Irvine.
On the other hand, they were hoping to find space in the San Fernando Valley or Ventura county for their in-season home headquarters.
“I was like: ‘Ohh, OK. I’d never really thought about it along those terms.’” Kimball said.
The Rams were initially skeptical there was enough space on the CLU campus to build a suitable facility. But Kimball convinced them there was sufficient space tucked away behind their baseball and softball fields – and unseen from the main roads that bracket campus - backed up to Mt. Clef.
That led to Kimball giving team executives a tour of the available space, and soon after the ball got rolling toward a toward a two-year deal between the club and the school that included three one-year options that could extend the Rams stay at CLU to five years.
As part of the agreement, the Rams paid for and constructed two practice fields,paved a parking lot and built temporary modular buildings containing offices, training areas and locker rooms on the northwest corner of the campus.
The city of Thousand Oaks approved construction of the fields and parking lot as part of Cal Lutheran’s master plan, with the Rams turning everything back over to the university when they move to their permanent home.
“We are excited to partner with Cal Lutheran to use their exceptional campus as the temporary home for team facilities that will be outstanding for our players and football staff,” Rams Chief Operating Officer and Executive Vice President Kevin Demoff. “The Rams look forward to becoming an integral part of the Cal Lutheran and Thousand Oaks communities as we establish our roots in Southern California.”
The CLU facility is ample enough to house 130 athletes, coaches, trainers and other staff members. It officially opened last September, and is now a fully functioning year-round hub in which the Rams conduct offseason workouts and mini camps and all practice and recuperation functions during the regular season.
In addition, the Rams are offering opportunities to the Cal Lutheran community, including internships for students, while their operations are based on campus.
From the moment the agreement was announced, CLU’s world changed.
“I always joke that we’ve been here 50-plus years doing great education, but we got more attention from the Rams than we’ve got total any way else.” Kimball said. “The visibility is has been great.
A year later, the relationship is as strong as ever.
“From a University perspective, we could not ask for a better partner,” Kimball said. “They’ve been terrific. It’s just been great.
“Obviously, from our standpoint, when they move to their permanent home, we inherit all the stuff they’ve built and that’s great value for us,” Kimball continued. “But that’s down the line. In the meantime, they’ve been terrific in employing our students with internships. Their staff members have come talked to our classes and had groups go up to their facility to take a look around. So they’ve really been great partners for us in that way whether you’re talking sports management or sports broadcasting and that type of stuff. Which is great.
“And obviously the more time our name shows up in the papers and on TV, it’s great for us. It’s visibility.
Even before they were approved for relocation in January of 2016, the Rams had their eye on the west end of the San Fernando Valley and Ventura county for various reasons.
The need for open, continuous land with which to build the necessary facilities to train a football team led them to this part of Southern California, where land is more available. And the lower cost of living north of Los Angeles would make it easier for staff members making the move from St. Louis to Los Angeles to comfortably settle in.
Keep in mind, Los Angeles area housing market is three to four times as high as St. Louis, with a recent study by the National Association of Realtors indicating the median Los Angeles house sales price at $458,900 compared to $140,000 in St. Louis.
And with the Rams bringing so many staff members with them from Missouri, they wanted to make the transition as easy as possible by settling in a more affordable region.
The team is currently looking for at least 40 to 50 acres in the vicinity to build their permanent offices, although that process figures to unfold over the course of a number of years.
In the meantime, players and staff members have been steadily settling into the neighborhood with a number of players purchasing or renting homes in and around Ventura County and the San Fernando Valley.
The key for most is to be as close to the training facility as possible given the early hours they report to work and the long hours they remain on the premise.
That was the recommendation made to the team by former coach Jeff Fisher, a Southern California native who understood the importance of being within close proximity to counter the hectic traffic situation of Southern California.
Which is why Thousand Oaks, Agoura Hills, Simi Valley, Westlake, Calabasas and Woodland Hills have been particularly popular landing spots for the players.
And their presence – buying homes, shopping at local stores and frequenting area restaurants now and into the future - figures to help the local economy.
“It’s been a great thing from a community standpoint because again, the visibility factor is significant,” Kimball said. “You have people coming into the area, spending money. You have players and staff buying homes in the area. Their kids are going to local schools. You see them around town, at the stores.
“It’s been a real boon and I know the city is doing everything it can to make this be their permanent home.”
The Rams hope to make that the case long term – they’ve been impressed with the hospitality of local leaders and staff members enjoy the area - and have begun talking to cities in the area about possible options.
Ideally they’d would like to build a headquarters along the lines of the Dallas Cowboys 91-acre facility in Frisco, Texas, in which their corporate offices and football facilities sit amid an entertainment district, offices, a medical center and hotel.
The trick now is finding the necessary land to make it happen.
But for now, Thousand Oaks and Agoura Hills is feeling more and more like home.
[www.dailynews.com]
