ANAHEIM AND THE RAMS: FINAL PLAY? : Team Gets Token Encouragement to Stay, Little Else

Los Angeles Rams fans hope their beloved team doesn’t take a cue from the phone number for the team’s ticket information line.

That number is 1-800-2GO-RAMS. But if season ticket holders and local business owners had their way, the number would be something more like 1-800-2DONT-GO.

As the possibility of the Rams leaving the region for greener pastures--and more green in their bank account--becomes more likely, boosters are urging everyone from fair-weather fans to county authorities to help persuade the team to stay.

The Rams Booster Club recently kicked off a campaign to draft Orange County corporations and municipalities to lend moral and financial support. The group mailed out more than 2,300 letters to businesses in March, asking that they either purchase blocks of season tickets for the first time or buy more then they have been.

As a result of a separate mailing, organizers say 29 of 31 cities in Orange County have passed or soon will pass resolutions and proclamations backing a drive to keep the Rams. Leaders of Brea and Laguna Beach have yet to answer the request.

Most recently, the Board of Supervisors this week passed a resolution encouraging the Rams to remain in Anaheim Stadium.

While pleased with city and county moral support, organizers realize it will take more than good wishes to keep the team in town. So far, the response from businesses has been “disappointing,” said Linda Moomau, who is heading the “Keep the Rams in Anaheim” campaign for the 1,800-member booster club.

Only 170 businesses have responded to the plea to buy more Rams season tickets, said Moomau, who has missed only one preseason home game and one regular season home game in the last 15 years. Nevertheless, the group’s efforts will continue, she said.

“It makes me feel sad to think about the Rams leaving,” said Moomau, 47, an office manager from Cypress and an ardent Rams fan since age 10. “That’s why I am working as hard as I can to keep them here.”

But if the Rams are to be viewed as a commodity, say local business owners and fans, the product needs improvement. They say Anaheim Stadium needs remodeling and a better-quality football team performing in it.

“When Anaheim Stadium was built, it was the classiest place around,” said Don Wallace, who owns a sports-ticket brokerage firm in Orange, and stands to lose $10,000 a year in gross income if the Rams leave. “But now it’s one of the poorer facilities in the country.”

“The Rams need to spend some money to get some good-class players who can win,” added Wallace. “If a team is losing, fans fly away.”

But with money a key issue in the debate, most fans seem to think that a hike in ticket prices to generate cash for player contracts or for refurbishing the stadium would be a mistake.

“I think fans would reject raising ticket prices,” said Frank Bryant, head of the Rams Booster Club. “I don’t think it would be a move that would endear fans to the club.”

But just because higher prices might not be welcome, Rams supporters say the public should still be buying tickets, in spite of the squad’s recent losing records and aging stadium.

“To be a real fan, you have to support the team when there’s a winning record and when they aren’t doing so well,” said Moomau. “That’s what being a fan is all about.”

Failing to rally behind their team now could mean not only losing the Rams, but also discourage future teams from settling in Orange County.

“We need to look at the big picture,” said Bryant. “We need to do something to convince the professional football world that we want a professional football team. If they do leave, then the rest of professional football may look at this area as a place that can’t support a team.”

“We need to prove it to them now, and we can do that by supporting the team we have now,” said Bryant.

Rumors about the Rams departure have already hurt season ticket sales, say team officials. Compared to last spring, season ticket sales are down about 13%.

Disappointment over last season’s 5-11 record and confusion about the team’s current status are behind the drop in sales, said Gene Cameron, the Rams’ vice president for ticket sales and marketing.

Fans are reluctant to reserve tickets because “there is some question where we will be playing” next year.

“I would miss them terribly. It would be a little like when you lose a love affair,” said Marilyn McCabe, a longtime Rams fan, who has 35 sweaters bearing the team’s logo in her closet. “A Ram-less Sunday--it wouldn’t be the same.”