40,000 Rowdy XFL Fans In St. Louis Chant 'Kroenke Sucks' At Rams Owner Who Moved Team To Los Angeles
As the XFL returned to St. Louis on Sunday night, the good people of 'The Lou' made it abundantly clear that it is, in fact, a football city. Even if Stan Kroenke thinks otherwise!
Back in 2020, before COVID-19 shut down the second iteration of the league, Battlehawks fans led the XFL with an average of 28,000 fans in two games. They surpassed that number during their team's first home game of the 2023 season.
St. Louis plays at The Dome at America's Center, which housed the Rams from 1995 to 2015. Demand was so high for the home opener that the team had to open up the second level and part of the third!
Every available seat sold out and 38,310 fans set an XFL record.
St. Louis football fans packed into the dome and created a raucous environment from kickoff to final whistle. Renegades head coach Bob Stoops said that it was "by far the loudest and craziest" home field advantage of the season. It wasn't even close.
Before that point in the evening, Battlehawks fans filled the parking lot.
Plenty of brewskis, probably Anheuser-Busch, were had.
And then it was time to head into the stands. They rolled deep.
Once kickoff rolled around, the place was rocking.
And not even five minutes into the first quarter, St. Louis fans made their opinion of Stan Kroenke very clear. Kroenke, who owns the holding company of the Rams, moved the team from Missouri to Los Angeles in 2015.
He is not well-liked in the city he left eight years ago.
The chants were so loud that they were even picked up on the T.V. broadcast! Battlehawks fans made sure that Kroenke could hear them all the way in California.
As the game continued, as did the excitement.
After the game, Battlehawks wide receiver Austin Prohel spoke about the atmosphere. His father, Ricky Prohel, played four years for the Rams in St. Louis, so Sunday was a pretty cool full-circle moment for the family.
The people of St. Louis want to be known as a football city and did everything in their power to do so on Sunday. The Battlehawks will be home again on Saturday, and the bar is set!