GETTING RAMS FOR SPRING TRAINING IS WORTH A TRY

Although it isn't official yet, the National Football League Rams this year will move to St. Louis from Anaheim, Calif. Football fans in Missouri, and eastern Missouri in particular, are predictably elated that St. Louis again will field a professional football team. But dyed-in-the-wool fans aren't the only ones jumping on the St. Louis Rams bandwagon.

The Cape Girardeau Chamber of Commerce hopes to lure the Rams 100 miles south to the campus of Southeast Missouri State University for their summer training camp. University officials are waiting for the NFL to give the Rams' move the final OK next month before they pursue the matter further, but the chamber's president, John Mehner, thinks Cape Girardeau has a legitimate shot at bringing in the Rams.

And for good reason. Most NFL teams conduct their training camps away from their home cities. There are fewer distraction, and although NFL teams are equipped with excellent facilities for a 60-man roster that practices five times a week and plays in the stadium on Sunday, they are ill-equipped for a training camp, where more than 100 players are thrown together to compete for limited positions. They must practice twice daily, hold daily team meetings, and eat and sleep together. The ideal site -- and the one picked by most NFL teams -- is a college campus, some distance away but with reasonably easy access. Certainly Cape Girardeau fits the bill for the St. Louis Rams.

For years, the Kansas City Chiefs trained at tiny William Jewell College in Liberty. They now train at River Falls, Wis., which is the home of a college that competes at the NCAA Division III level. The Chicago Bears train in Platteville, Wis., another Division III college town with a population of about 10,000.

Those colleges, and the communities they are in, benefit greatly by playing host to the training camps. Thousands of football fans visit the towns to watch the practices. The added tourism boosts the local economy. The teams often make improvements to the practice facilities that benefit the university after training camp ends.

Other cities will try to woo the Rams. Certainly, Cape Girardeau has as good a chance as many, and a better chance than some. The Chamber of Commerce and the university deserve community support as they give it their best shot.