David Rosenthal

One, they need to go meet the AAFC where they are, being nationwide and the West Coast and going to California.

Two...

the NFL, if they're going to win, they need to put out a superior product, a better game on the field than the AFC.

And then three, for the first time,

They need to do a better job than the AAFC, or at least as good a job at actually telling America about it.

They have to go proselytize.

They have to go win fans and win consumers' hearts and minds.

So fronts one and three are basically all handled by Dan and the Rams.

So immediately after Bell comes in as commissioner...

He orchestrates approval for the Rams to move out to California.

And it's a good thing they did because when play eventually starts in the 1946 season, the new Browns in Cleveland for their very first home game draw 60,000 fans, which is more than the Rams did for the entire season the year before.

And on the racial integration front, the AAFC was going to be an integrated league from the beginning.

The NFL, and especially the Redskins, didn't have a lot of interest in doing so.

But moving the Rams to L.A.

forces the league to integrate because the L.A.

Coliseum, where the Rams want to play, is a publicly owned building.

And it's controlled then as now by the L.A.

Coliseum Commission.

And when Reeves and the Rams come out to petition their case that they should come be allowed to play in the Coliseum, well, the commission says, okay, we'll let you play here, but we're not going to allow any segregated home teams to use our stadium as their home stadium.

So you're going to have to integrate the team.