LOS ANGELES (KPIX) — Many 49ers fans are heading to Los Angeles for the NFC Championship game against the Rams, but not all the fans wearing red and gold in the stands will be from the Bay Area.
The number of home-grown LA area 49ers fans is exploding.
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“I wore my jersey to work today and my friend said, ‘You’re a 49ers fan?’ And I said, ‘Yep. What’s up?!’” said Annette, a 49ers fan and Los Angeles resident.
KPIX connected with several members of the Saloon Squad, a Los Angeles-based 49ers booster club, as they prepare to root against the Rams.
Many of the LA Niners fans were born and raised in Southern California, but that still didn’t explain why they support a Northern California team.
“One, the winning tradition that the 49ers have. And then two, the simple fact that LA didn’t have a team for over a decade,” said Saloon Squad President Ivan Toribio.
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The Rams were born in Cleveland and moved to Los Angeles in the 1940s. But then the team relocated to St. Louis and didn’t move back to LA until 2016.
The moves apparently cost them support.
“Fans just wanted to support a team, and it’s just easy to support a team with a winning history. And beyond that, for a lot of us, myself included, our parents were 49er fans since the ’80s,” Toribio said.
Like Bay Area Niners fans, the LA fans also travel to 49ers away games helping
to take over opponent’s stadiums.
But Toribio pointed out that his support of the Niners does not carry over to the San Francisco Giants.
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“I draw the line. I draw the line. I have Dodger’s season tickets. Yeah, I don’t like the Giants at all. But my life revolves around the 49ers!”
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