Pro Football Still Rules in St. Louis

Major League Soccer is finally here in St. Louis, the Blues hockey, is coming towards the end of the season while the St. Louis Cardinals 2023 baseball season starts in early April. The return of the St. Louis Battlehawks confirmed that Professional Football Still Rules the city after nearly 40,000 fans turned out to see their beloved team after coronavirus pandemic shutdown the 2020 XFL season after 5 games.

Fans were treated with high excitement when their beloved Battlehawks defeated the Arlington Renegades 24-11. Sure, it’s not the NFL and the league has been brutal towards Football fans in St. Louis, but it is still in the DNA throughout the fans in St. Louis and they showed it when they set the League record with the sold-out crowd at The Dome of American in downtown St. Louis.

The Battlehawks improved to 3-1 which is impressive after starting their first three games on the road. Led by Quarterback A.J. McCarren, who was known to lead the University of Alabama Crimson Tide to two straight National Collegiate Nation title, he took less money to play in the XFL than to be a backup Quarterback in the NFL. He threw for 214 yards with 2 touchdown passes and 1 interception. Brian Hill is a local talented Running back who score a touchdown and rushed for 89 yards on 18 careers.

In the 49 year of the NFL in St. Louis, Cardinals, then the Rams two teams produced a total of 16 winning season and qualified for the playoffs 8 times.  The Cardinals played in St. Louis for 27 years and never hosted a playoff losing all three games when entering in the playoffs. The lack of commitment from both local and county leaders in building a new stadium resulted in the team to move to Arizona after the end of the 1987.

When the Rams move to St. Louis in 1995 there was a rough start after four consecutive losing seasons but, in 1999 the Rams found magic in the bottle when they won it all and beating the Tennessee Titans in St. Louis’s first Super Bowl trophy. The team would go back to the Super Bowl in 2001 but loss to the New England Patriots 20-17. Over the last nine seasons of the Rams stay in St. Louis from 2007-2015, the fans were treated with poor on the field performance and an owner Stan Kroenke, who despite saying he was going to do everything he can to keep the Rams in St. Louis, ended up moving the team to Los Angeles after the end of the 2015.

Aside from the Battlehawks fans anguish towards Stan Kroenke and the NFL, they share a passion for the love of Football of their team St. Louis. The Battlehawks didn’t move to another city but were awarded a team because the XFL tapped into the positive vibe by giving a platform to confirm to the Football critics that the sport is still number in a city that’s supposed to be a baseball town. So even if it isn’t the NFL, Pro Football still rules in St. Louis and fans are fulling embracing their team and the XFL.

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