NFL great Eric Dickerson hopes Rams return to Los Angeles

Eric Dickerson’s bespectacled blue and yellow blur of a presence personified Los Angeles Rams football in the early 1980s, so it makes sense the Pro Football Hall of Fame running back would want to see the team back in L.A.

Dickerson told ESPN he hopes the Rams will relocate Los Angeles after leaving Southern California for St. Louis in 1995.

“Honestly, I’m hoping the Rams come back,” Dickerson said. “I do go to St. Louis, they’re still the Rams and the team I played for, but a lot of guys feel the same way. They’d like to have them back here in town. We need a team now, and I think the perfect fit would be the Los Angeles Rams.

“I believe the Rams belong here.”

Dickerson may get his wish. In January, Rams owner Stan Kroenke unveiled plans to build an 80,000-seat NFL stadium as part of a $1.86-billion privately financed commercial venue on the former site of Hollywood Park in Inglewood. The Inglewood City Council approved the plan in February.

Kroenke hasn’t said publicly whether he wants to move the Rams back to the Los Angeles market, where they played from 1946 to 1994. Dickerson feels the time is right for the Rams to return to L.A.

“If the Rams come, they have a great owner in Stan Kroenke, and it’s a different organization than when I played,” Dickerson said. “I just think it would be great. I don’t think you’ll find one person who will say L.A. shouldn’t have a team. If they do, they don’t like football. I think we do need a team here.”

The Rams aren’t the only ones trying to get a new stadium deal by threatening to relocate to Los Angeles. The Oakland Raiders and San Diego Chargers announced plans in February for a $1.7-billion joint venue located in Carson.

Indianapolis Colts owner Jim Irsay and San Francisco 49ers CEO Jed York have characterized the NFL’s return to Los Angeles as inevitable, although NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell has been more cautious in his assessment.

NFL team owners are scheduled to meet in Chicago in August to discuss the progress of stadium proposals in Oakland, San Diego, St. Louis and NFL hopeful Los Angeles.

“This is a major city. It’s the second-largest city in the country and we don’t have a football team, and at one point, we had two football teams in town with the L.A. Rams and the L.A. Raiders,” Dickerson said. “I just think it’s the perfect time.”