There are now three guarantees in life: Death, taxes and 49ers fans turning away games at SoFi Stadium into a sea of red.
The annual tradition of the Inglewood stadium becoming a second home for the Niners continued on Sunday. While the schedule might have listed this game as a home game for the Los Angeles Rams, it was anything but that as the Niners faithful were out in full force throughout the stadium.
Historical precedence was not the only reason to expect such a high population of San Francisco fans. ESPN’s Nick Wagoner noted Wednesday that Niners fans were expected to make up approximately 62% of the crowd at SoFi, which has been dubbed “Levi’s South” as a result of these takeovers. But across the many videos people at Sunday’s game posted on social media, that number seemed to be an underestimate.
Just look at how red the crowd was before and during the NFC West matchup.
Niners fans always travel well given the historic success of the franchise, but the population dominance they’ve had at SoFi has been a sight to behold. The first notable example happened during the 2022 NFC Championship, where Niners fans forced the Rams to use a silent count at home. Los Angeles ultimately got the last laugh in that game with a win and a trip to the Super Bowl, which it also won, but the team has yet to win back its stadium. In the following season, and in 2023, the red and gold takeovers were louder and prouder — it certainly helps that while the Niners have remained championship contenders, the Rams have fallen off a cliff.
The worst part about all this for the Rams is that this is happening against a division rival, meaning they ostensibly deal with two away games against the Niners every year. The only possible solution would be to try and overtake San Francisco in terms of local cultural dominance, which might require at least tying the Niners’ stretch of five Super Bowl wins in 13 years. The Rams already have one from two years ago. They just need to get four more in 11 years and only then will the Levi’s South nickname go away (maybe).
