Last year Loyola Marymount University was looking to do greater brand activation and partner with a local major athletic team.

Marianna Villa, vice president of external relations and partnerships at the university, said the school was not just looking to put its logo on something but wanted to form a true partnership with a nearby sports team. Enter the Los Angeles Rams.

“They were so here for everything we wanted to try and explore,” she said.

The partnership has since expanded to include the Rams’ summer training, which will be held on LMU’s campus in Westchester. Some students will also be doing on-campus internships with the Rams during the summer training. Students have also done internships with the Rams during the year as part of the partnership.

“Our organization constantly looks to evolve our operations, and calling LMU home for these few weeks presents incredible opportunities for this new chapter of Rams Training Camp. We look forward to bringing Rams fans and the LMU community together with our players and coaches as they prepare to compete for another championship,” Los Angeles Rams President Kevin Demoff said in a statement.

In the last year, the partnership also brought a number of LMU economics students to SoFi Stadium and the Rams’ headquarters to learn more about the businesses of sports, including salary contracts and marketing. Rams experts have also come to LMU’s campus to teach.

The Rams also hosted 3,000 high school students at LMU for its Girls’ Flag Football Jamboree in September.

“The outcomes have been greater than we ever could have thought,” Villa said of the partnership.

She added that in its first year the partnership “leaned heavily into economics” but wanted to create more connections between the Rams and the health and sciences and film and television departments.

The initial partnership agreement is for three years but Villa said that “given the initial outcomes of it and what it could be, all parties are hopeful for it” continuing. She added that other schools have since looked into similar models.

“It’s proven to be lucrative with intellectual growth and monetary growth,” Villa said.

Jey Wagner, who assumed the role of president and chief executive of the Santa Clarita Valley Economic Development Corp. less than a year ago, has stepped down from the organization.

The SCVEDC, which works to bring businesses to Santa Clarita, will be led by Ondré Seltzer. Seltzer, who was formerly the organization’s vice president of Workforce and Economic Development, is taking on the role of interim president and CEO while the search for a permanent president and CEO is underway.

Wagner took on the role after the departure of Holly Schroeder, who led the group for more than a decade. She left for DrinkPAK, a company she helped bring to Santa Clarita, to aid in its nationwide expansion.

• • •

In news that will likely come as no surprise to Angelenos, the city was recently found the second most expensive city for renters in the nation in a QR Code Generator study analyzing Zillow data.

The study found that the average rent for a single-family home in the city was $4,317.13 per month, nearly 76% of the disposable income of the average Californian.

Bridgeport, Connecticut, was found to have the most expensive rents in the country.

San Jose, San Diego, Oxnard and San Francisco all ranked in the top 10.

“The study highlights a growing concern for renters as it identifies many U.S. cities where renting has become increasingly burdensome,” Marc Porcar, chief executive of QR Code Generator, said. “This underscores the broader trend of rising living expenses, particularly in urban areas where demand continues to outpace supply. Renters in these cities face significant financial challenges, which reflect broader economic pressures affecting housing affordability nationwide.”