Rams and Bengals will be another home game not in Los Angeles

The Los Angeles Rams will play the Cincinnati Bengals in London as part of the NFL slate of games in 2019.

The National Football League will continue the play games anywhere but here and as such, the Los Angeles Rams will play the Cincinnati Bengals in London as part of the 2019 regular season schedule.

For those short on memory or still hung over from the NFC Championship Game, the Rams were supposed to be the home team in a Monday Night Football game against the Kansas City Chiefs. Poor field conditions and the potential for players boycotting the game forced the league to move the contest back to the Coliseum in Los Angeles. The Rams ended up beating the Chiefs in an epic shootout, 54-51.

While the games in London are now an every season staple, it continues to be a trade off for the “home team” as its a local gate lost and chance for the local fans to have a home game-day. The Rams have now been part of the international rotation since 2016, and had it not been for the situation in Mexico City in 2018, this game against the Bengals would have been a fourth straight.

While the new Los Angeles Stadium And Entertainment District At Hollywood Park won’t open until the 2020 season, it’s hard to imagine the NFL would keep the Rams in the series in either London, Mexico City, or any of the other international cities long rumored to host a regular season game. The new behemoth will be the newest and latest gem in the league’s constellation of state-of-the-art stadiums. Not having the home team there won’t be good business for the Rams back in LA.

Of note is the Rams stadium and city co-tenant, the Los Angeles Chargers also playing host in Mexico City with the Chiefs as their opponent. It’ll be an NFC West game that given their mutual success in 2018, will be a marquee matchup for TV.