Rams’ Threat to Leave Worries Anaheim Merchants : Sports: While the departure is not expected to destroy businesses outright, games generated steady income. Others are buoyed by the recent opening of Anaheim Arena, home to the Mighty Ducks.

A refrain heard around town lately: “Who cares if the Rams leave?”

For starters, several business owners near Anaheim Stadium say that they do.

If the National Football League team makes an end run to Baltimore or elsewhere in 1995, as it is threatening to do, area restaurants, bars, hotels and ticket agencies stand to lose big money.

Every Rams game generates several hundred to several thousand dollars of added revenue for each of these businesses. And while merchants say the Rams’ absence wouldn’t be enough to force anyone out of business, money is money and no one likes to give it up.

“When their attendance is poor, we do poorly, so if they leave altogether, there goes our attendance,” said John Marquez, manager of the nearby Catch sports bar.

He has worked at stadium-area restaurants for the last 10 years and says the Rams are good for business, drawing an estimated 600 extra customers every time they play at home. The die-hards show up at 9 a.m. on game day for brunch and drinks, park their cars in the bar parking lot, then return for another round of festivities after the game, Marquez said.

“It’s only a few dates, but those dates make a big difference in our bottom line,” he said.

The stakes in the Rams debate grew higher recently when the team announced that it plans to give the city of Anaheim formal notice in May that it may leave Anaheim Stadium.

The city has asked the local Chamber of Commerce to contact area business people who may be able to help persuade the team to stay. But restaurant and business owners near the stadium said they are still uncertain what role if any they may be able to play in the debate.

Ben Harris, manager of the nearby 71-room Angels Inn, said the Rams provide him with a guaranteed early afternoon sellout eight to 10 nights a year. That allows him to charge $5 to $10 more that day for all of his rooms.

“I don’t have to stay up until 2 a.m., taking whatever I can get from the people coming out of the bars,” Harris said.

But he said the recent opening of the nearby Anaheim Arena, home to the Mighty Ducks hockey team and other events, means he will still make more money in the future than he has before. “The arena is going to have an effect 200 nights a year,” he said.

Dave Miller, owner of the Ticket Outlet, a brokerage located next to the stadium, said Rams ticket sales have plummeted as their losses have mounted.

“But everybody seems to be forgetting the good years when the team was winning and drawing 60,000 people,” Miller said. “Things were great then. And if the team stays, they will be great when the team starts winning again.”

Patrick Hynes, spokesman for the Anaheim Hilton and Towers, said the hotel has just begun developing ties to visiting NFL teams, with the Detroit Lions and the Washington Redskins staying there this past season. In addition, several visiting booster clubs have stayed at the Hilton for years, and the Rams cheerleaders have been a fixture at the hotel bar’s Monday Night Football parties.

“We’re just starting into the sports teams market, and our relationship with football was something we were hoping to develop in the future,” Hynes said. “And the cheerleaders have been an attraction for the bar. . . . You always feel sad when somebody in the neighborhood leaves, but I’m sure we’ll find somebody just as nice to take their place.”