It makes sense that an L.A. native is the originator of the Los Angeles Rams draft house — someone intimately familiar with the diverse landscape of the city.
Lexi vonderLieth, senior vice president of brand for the Rams, is the brainchild of the draft house. She joined the franchise in 2019, pitching the concept as a big swing to lure sponsors for the franchise. The Rams draft house spawned during the restless months of the COVID-19 pandemic, when NFL teams made draft picks from living rooms and garages at home.
“At the time, people were having these TikTok houses and Airbnb had these really cool branded houses,” vonderLieth told me. “We came up with the concept of drafting from a house. It fit our strategy so much because there was always that narrative that we draft differently. But that’s so ‘inside football,’ so we were trying to figure out how do you commercialize that a little bit.
“The year before, during COVID, we actually learned that you could do it from people’s houses. That was also the learning that, ‘All right, we saw that people were doing it from the garages and living rooms, we can probably do this at a house.’”
In five years, the draft house has grown into a signature, tent-pole event for the franchise that has gained national attention, raising the profile of a team fighting for eyeballs in the ultra-competitive L.A. sports landscape.
The Rams will have their draft house in Inglewood this year, which will be open to the public for the first time ever. (Photo credit: Rams)
The NFL is led by paranoid, risk-averse front office types concerned about leaking any morsel of information, but the flexibility and outside-the-box thinking of general manager Les Snead and head coach Sean McVay created an opportunity for the Rams.
“We are pretty innovative around here — nothing a lot more than that,” Snead said when I asked him about the draft house during the team’s recent pre-draft Zoom press conference. “It was that [business] aspect of the constructing wanting so as to add a bit of extra ‘oomph’ to the draft and the date on the calendar the place it brings our followers collectively for this second.”
For the primary time this 12 months, the Rams draft home is open to the general public – a fan-facing, interactive expertise at Hollywood Park in Inglewood close to SoFi Stadium. In a preview to the draft and introduction of revamped uniforms, the Rams put collectively an homage to the favored “Friday” film referred to as “Thursday,” which incorporates cameos by Ice Dice’s son (O’Shea Jackson Jr.), Chris Tucker’s son (Destin Tucker) and Rams go rusher Jared Verse.
The Rams launched their first draft home in Malibu. They often take a look at 10 properties earlier than selecting a home, with IT assist workers and soccer brass getting an in depth take a look at the properties earlier than making a last choice. The Rams additionally should meet league specs, together with having a digicam within the draft room for reside look-ins. That advertising marketing campaign at Malibu included a video of actress Insurgent Wilson touring the staff’s new digs with McVay, Snead and present gamers.
“Malibu the primary 12 months was kind of the shock and awe that we’re drafting from a home, and we would have liked that L.A. view of a seaside,” vonderLieth instructed me. “And we actually needed to offer that view to followers. … We knew the TV cameras could be selecting that up, and we knew most groups had been going to return to drafting on the facility, so to have this distinctive view was actually essential.”
The Rams had their first draft home in Malibu for the 2021 draft. (Photograph credit score: Rams)
The next 12 months, after successful the Tremendous Bowl, the Rams relocated the draft home to the Hollywood Hills, with awe-inspiring views of downtown Los Angeles.
Three years in the past, after experiencing a Tremendous Bowl hangover and ending 5-12, the Rams moved to the San Fernando Valley in Encino, making a video referred to as “Change the Equation” with a theme of the staff going again to the lab.
The Rams had their first fan occasion at Hermosa Seashore, a hotbed location for season-ticket holders. The Rams positioned a 60-yard reproduction of the turf subject at SoFi Stadium for followers to take pleasure in within the sand and hosted a draft home with a view of the seaside.
By 2024, the Rams’ draft home turned a spectacle, including a number of distinctive facilities to their draft home in Hermosa Seashore. (Photograph credit score: Rams)
Nevertheless, tragedy led to the Rams shifting to extra of a community-focused occasion final 12 months, with the Los Angeles wildfires forcing the Rams to host their NFC Wild Card sport in opposition to the Minnesota Vikings in Arizona. In honor of the folks affected by the devastating fires that ravaged Altadena and Pacific Palisades, the Rams partnered with the Los Angeles Hearth Division, changing the LAFD Air Operations in Van Nuys into the staff’s draft headquarters sponsored by Zillow.
“The best scenario that we’ve been part of was final 12 months being with the firefighters and all of the various things in our group,” McVay stated once I requested him concerning the Rams’ draft home throughout the staff’s Zoom pre-draft name. “Les and I had been really speaking about that. The opposite stuff was enjoyable. That was extra significant and impactful. I believed that was actually particular.”
In accordance with vonderLieth, she realized concerning the Air Operations facility from her son, who performed hockey with two helicopter pilots who labored out of the power.
“It was most likely the simplest promote,” vonderLieth instructed me. “Everybody obtained on board and our gamers had been essentially the most engaged in that one. We had lunch with L.A. F.D. and all of the gamers needed to be there to have fun with the blokes.”
The Rams held their draft home in 2025 on the LAFD Air Operations in Van Nuys. (Photograph credit score: Rams)
What began as amplifying the L.A.’s progressive “F them picks” strategy to participant acquisition has morphed into annual group celebrations for followers on draft weekend.
“Inglewood has been on the radar as a spot we needed to go, but it surely made essentially the most sense this 12 months for a couple of causes. Clearly, it’s our house. But it surely’s an effective way to start out the season with the draft at our house and, hopefully, we’re ending the season right here within the Tremendous Bowl,” vonderLieth stated as SoFi Stadium will host Tremendous Bowl LXI subsequent February.
“I do see this as a fan occasion transferring ahead. Hopefully, we see the success of it this week, how our followers are reacting, coming down and celebrating with us.”
