Los Angeles Rams

Super Bowl party season is right around the corner ... and one of the most hyped events of the weekend is looking to one-up itself -- with a nearly $3 million budget!!

TMZ Sports spoke with David Spencer of Talent Resources Sports, which helps put on the annual Sports Illustrated bash during Super Bowl Weekend ... and he tells us the S.I. bash will live up to its reputation this year -- especially after COVID-19 prevented the party from happening in 2021.

"We've been known to throw some premiere events in our 15-year history, and super honored to be back in L.A. and doing something bigger than ever," Spencer tells us.

This season, the event is slated to have names like Kygo, Jack Harlow, Frank Walker and more on board to get the vibes going ... and the crowd will be filled with the biggest celebs, athletes and models like years past.

With all that being said, tables for the party come with quite the price tag -- we're talking 5 figures -- but it's for good reason.

"It's an expensive event to produce," Spencer adds. "We're almost up to the $3 million mark for that event alone, so it's a tough ticket."

On top of the S.I. party, Spencer tells us about the Super Bowl viewing party at Jimmy Goldstein's iconic L.A. mansion ... and he says the event (which comes with a $1,500-$2,000 ticket) will be super COVID-19 safe ... and catered by local hotspot Craig's!!

The NFL, the Cincinnati Bengals and the L.A. Rams are all suing potential Super Bowl ticket and merchandise counterfeiters ahead of the big game ... hoping to stop any such activity in its tracks.

The league and its two teams filed the lawsuit on Monday, TMZ Sports has learned, suing to get a court order authorizing them to seize any counterfeit merch it finds in the leadup to the matchup on Feb. 13.

In the docs, the plaintiffs say counterfeiting is a huge problem at the Super Bowl ... calling it a "multi-billion dollar" business that hurts both the NFL and its consumers.

The league, Rams and Bengals said in the suit they're anticipating "widespread" counterfeiting in Los Angeles the next two weeks ... and want the court order to help protect their brands and their fans from ending up with bootleg tickets and merch.

The league made it clear in the docs, though, that it does not know the names of the counterfeiters at this time ... but they'll amend their complaint to add the names as soon they find any culprits.

Odell Beckham Jr. celebrated the Rams' win on Sunday in style ... hitting up an L.A. hotspot just hours after he and his team punched their ticket to Super Bowl LVI.

The star receiver arrived at Delilah in West Hollywood shortly after beating the San Francisco 49ers at SoFi Stadium ... and he came sportin' his fresh NFC Championship hat.

Odell also rocked a big chain for the occasion ... and then he rubbed elbows with some celebs at the venue.

Travis Scott was there, and so was Tyga, who had actually celebrated with OBJ on the field following the big win earlier in the day.

Even Antonio Brown showed up to the hotspot -- though it's unclear if the NFL stars ever crossed paths while inside.

Of course, Odell had every reason to be out late livin' it up -- after being jettisoned by the Cleveland Browns earlier this season, he rebounded big time to have a huge final few games with the Rams.

In fact, during their win on Sunday, OBJ had 9 catches for 113 yards!!!

The Rams' huge win didn't go off seamlessly on Sunday ... 'cause the Jumbotron operator at their stadium mistook Big Sean and Jhene Aiko for Sarah Michelle Gellar and Freddie Prinze Jr. -- and the scene was hilarious.

Just before L.A. beat the San Francisco 49ers to advance to the Super Bowl at SoFi Stadium ... someone really screwed up as the camera was panning around to celebs in the crowd.

When it got to Big Sean and Aiko ... the graphics below them read "Sarah Michelle Gellar" and "Freddie Prinze Jr."

Fans noticed the gaffe quickly -- pointing out the blunder all over social media ... and even Michelle Gellar had to poke fun at it all on her Instagram page.

"@bigsean do you get mistaken for me as often as I get mistaken for you?" she said.

"somebody about to get fired," she added.

Of course, Big Sean and Aiko didn't seem bothered by it ... they were spotted livin' it up in their on-field suite throughout the game, and the two appeared to even celebrate the Rams' win afterward.

As for Prinze Jr., he didn't even attend the game -- and he's yet to respond to it all, but we're sure something witty is coming shortly.

Matthew Stafford's wife, Kelly, was so blown away by the prices of NFC Championship game tickets ... she says she's personally buying a bunch of seats so she can give them away to Rams fans.

Kelly made the announcement on her social media page Wednesday ... encouraging any L.A. fans with good stories to reach out to her so she can start handing out the tix to Sunday's big game versus the 49ers ASAP.

"If you are a hard core rams fan, or just a regular rams fan, a veteran, active in the military, a public servant, etc.," Kelly said, "email me at staffgiveback@gmail.com and tell me your story with some photos attached!"

Kelly -- who married Matthew back in 2015 -- added that she's hoping to give away all the tickets by Thursday night.

It's an awesome gesture ... considering the tickets have reached crazy prices. Even SoFi Stadium nosebleed seats are going for over $500, and seats near the field are selling for thousands.

Kelly, though, is clearly down to help ease that financial burden -- especially because the last time the Niners came into town earlier this month, their fans took over the venue.

It's been three weeks since Antonio Brown's breakup with the Bucs, but he's still clearly not over it -- 'cause he trolled the hell out of his old team after its playoff loss Sunday.

Just minutes after the Rams took down Tom Brady with a last-second field goal at Raymond James Stadium ... AB took to Twitter to rub salt in the wound.

Brown posted an edited picture from his shirtless temper tantrum at MetLife Stadium earlier this month ... showing him holding a sign that said: "Bucs eliminated."

He captioned the pic with a crying emoji, and the words, "ICant."

Brown has had big beef with the Bucs ever since the meltdown during the Jets game ... accusing Bruce Arians and the team of trying to force him to play on a badly injured ankle.

Brown's departure got so messy, he actually shaded Brady following the whole ordeal.

But, it seemed Brown had been moving on -- he told TMZ Sports last week he and Brady had hashed out their issues ... and he also admitted to photogs recently that his shirtless rant was not very professional.

O.J. Simpson's post-parole life is starting out in the Sunshine State, it seems, because there's been a Juice sighting in Florida ... and wouldn't you know it, the guy's at a bar!

The disgraced NFL-er caught the Bucs-Rams matchup Sunday at a place called Bo's Pub in Ft. Lauderdale ... where he was taking in the game, and apparently some drinks too. In photos obtained by TMZ, you see O.J. chillin' near a group of folks and having a good time.

We're told O.J. appeared to be with these people -- so he wasn't just randomly there lone-wolfing it. And, per usual, he was getting recognized and approached for photos and the like ... which eyewitnesses say he was happy to accommodate.

It actually looks like a young group of ladies might've been ooh-ing and ah-ing over O.J. as well -- as one pic shows them near his crew, and O.J. not too far with a big grin on his face.

No shock here that O.J.'s keeping up with football -- we know he likes to comment on the state of the game and standout moments during the season ... including Antonio Brown's ungraceful exit from the Buccaneers franchise.

So yea, the fact he's peeping a big game in public might not be too much of a news flash.

What is interesting, however, is the fact that this seems to be one of the first public outings O.J.'s had since being released early from his parole in Nevada -- where he's been confined for the better part of 5  years now ... following his release from prison in 2017.

Rams legend Isaac Bruce is predicting an early exit from the playoffs for Tom Brady ... saying his old team will beat the Buccaneers today -- by one point!

The former wideout -- who's admittedly pretty biased given the fact that he played for the org. for 14 seasons -- made the prognostication to TMZ Sports earlier this week.

"I say it's close," Bruce said. "28-27."

Bruce is confident in his former team given the tattered state of Brady's O-line. The Hall of Famer tells us he expects Aaron Donald and Von Miller to have a big role in the matchup due to the injuries in front of Brady.

Bruce, though, did acknowledge that beating TB12 won't be easy.

"It will be really tough to hold Tom Brady under 25 points," Bruce said, "but I think it will be 27-28 Rams in the end."

Kickoff for the game is slated for 12 PM PT.

Travis Scott got a stinky surprise as he made a rare public appearance at the L.A. Rams' game ... all thanks to a sewage pipe that burst within smelling distance of the rapper.

We got photos of Travis Monday night at SoFi Stadium in one of his first outings since the Astroworld tragedy. Travis hung out in one of the field-level suites but kept a low profile, mostly standing near the back of the room with a few friends.

However, it was during the second half of the game when all hell broke loose -- a sewage pipe burst -- causing the suite next to Trav to evacuate, and sending a putrid smell throughout the lower boxes.

You can see a mix of cleaning staff and equipment do their best to clean up the mess as quickly as possible, but our sources say it was almost enough to get some people to leave.

Eventually, we're told Travis left with about 2 minutes left in the first-round playoff game, but he didn't miss much -- the Rams blew out the Cardinals 34-11 -- besides the stench.

As we said, Travis has rarely been seen in public since the Nov. 5 incident which killed 10 fans. He's been hit with billions in litigation, but has maintained he was unaware of the severity of what was happening in the crowd as he performed.

The "Manning Cast" swearing bug finally reached Peyton Manning -- the Hall of Fame quarterback dropped the S-bomb live on "Monday Night Football" ... and it was hilarious!!

The Manning bros hosted their final broadcast of "MNF" for the Rams vs. Cardinals Wild Card matchup on Monday ... and just like Travis Kelce and Marshawn Lynch before him, Peyton said a dirty word.

The moment happened late in the first quarter, when Eli asked Peyton to break down a touchdown play ... but some technical issues led to a much better response.

"I can't hear s***," Peyton said in frustration.

Eli -- who also had his own mishap by flipping his middle fingers earlier this season -- was quick to distract fans from the expletive ... saying, "NEVERMIND!!"

Peyton later explained what happened ... saying his mic busted when he got too excited after Odell Beckham's touchdown catch, causing the technical difficulties.

Peyton then switched the focus back to the game ... going about his analysis like nothing happened, but viewers were quick to share the funny slip-up on social media.

It's now the third time someone on the live "Manning Cast" said a bad word -- as we previously reported, Marshawn was unfiltered during his appearance back in October, with Peyton apologizing on his behalf.

"I want to apologize for some of the language. It's not what we're trying to do on this show," the 2-time Super Bowl champ said at the time.

Before that, Kelce accidentally let an S-bomb of his own slip while chatting with Peyton and Eli back in September.

Adrian Peterson just melted down over the officiating in Tuesday's Rams vs. Seahawks game ... going off on the refs, claiming they "robbed" Seattle of a win.

A.P. posted a lengthy rant on social media just minutes ago ... blasting the refs at SoFi Stadium for what he says were a bunch of missed calls in the key NFC West matchup.

"Can we please come together and figure out a better solution that'll hold [NFL refs] more accountable," said Peterson, who just joined the Seahawks earlier this month.

"These blatantly missed and unwarranted calls literally change the outcome of games."

Peterson said there were a couple of plays that really rubbed him the wrong way -- but he said it was the non-pass interference call on DeeJay Dallas late in the game that had him irate.

"I don't make excuses and I also feel any situation can be overcome," the future Hall of Famer said, "but, opportunities are all you need to create change. We got robbed of that last night."

Peterson said the officiating was so bad, his kids actually came up to him following the game and asked, "Dad why are they not making the right calls?! Do they just want the Rams to win?"

Odell Beckham Jr.'s touchdown celebration during "Monday Night Football" has earned himself an "absolute 10" -- so says the internet star he was mimicking, who tells TMZ Sports the whole moment was amazing!!

OBJ caught his third tuddy as a Ram during LA's win against the Arizona Cardinals ... snagging the score in the second quarter of play.

Beckham decided to celebrate the TD by doing some viral self-defense strategies made popular by Commander Dale Brown of "Detroit Urban Survival Training" (if you have TikTok, you've definitely seen this guy).

We spoke to Brown about the touchdown tribute ... and he says he loved every second of it!!

"I'm still moved!" Brown tells us. "I'm getting messages from across the country. People sending me all kinds of memes connected to that. It's great, literally. I was literally shocked."

In fact, Brown was impressed at how well the NFL receiver did the maneuver ... and if he had to rate it, he'd give OBJ a perfect score.

"It was 10. It was an absolute 10," he added. "He got out of the way of the barrel, reversed it and he also did the iconic move."

"Outstanding showing an actual technique that can actually help save people's lives. That's great and that's what it's all for."

BTW -- Brown founded Detroit Threat Management and Detroit D.U.S.T. to help people protect themselves in a non-violent way ... and he's happy his training videos get out to the masses -- even if they're turned into memes.

"Anywhere we can get it out there -- through humor or, in this case, a world-class athlete that the world respects -- and actually showing it, is outstanding," Brown tells us.

"Sports athletes are a great way to do that, to bring the message forward to the entire country."

After OBJ brought more limelight to Brown's cause, he hopes to connect with the 3-time Pro Bowler to show him more moves ... and maybe collab on a training course.

"We'll be out in LA and I hope to come in contact with him," Brown says. "I can actually show him the tactic in real person."

Former UCF football star Otis Anderson Jr. reportedly died on Monday night ... after he was shot during an altercation in Florida.

He was just 23 years old.

According to News4JAX, Anderson Jr. was shot during a domestic dispute that went down at around 9:30 p.m. in Jacksonville -- and he later died at a nearby hospital.

Cops said, according to News4JAX, that a woman was also shot in the altercation, but survived.

Details surrounding the incident are unclear -- but cops did say, according to News4JAX, that it appears all of the people involved were related.

Anderson Jr. -- who's not related to ex-New York Giants star Ottis Anderson -- was an outstanding football player for the Knights from 2017 to 2020.

Playing both wideout and running back, Otis piled up 2,182 rushing yards, 1,025 receiving yards and 26 total touchdowns. He did not get picked in the 2021 NFL Draft, but did sign with the Rams in the offseason.

He remained with L.A. until he was cut in September.

Reports of his death have hit the NFL community hard, with Rams star Jalen Ramsey saying on his Twitter page Tuesday, "Rest in Heaven Otis. We gotta do better on this earth smh. Big prayers up."

Added Dallas Cowboys star rookie Micah Parsons, "S*** sad!! Sending prayers to all."

The AFC and NFC champs won't have to travel far for the Super Bowl this year ... 'cause Snoop Dogg tells TMZ Sports he thinks the Rams and Chargers will face off in the big game!!!

Of course, D-O-Double-G will be front and center at SoFi Stadium on Feb. 13 -- he's headlining a massive halftime show alongside Kendrick Lamar, Dr. Dre, Eminem and Mary J. Blige.

Since he's part of the party, we had to ask which teams will be duking it out on the field on Super Bowl Sunday ... and Snoop thinks it's gonna be a battle of the City of Angels!!!

As for the performance, Mr. Dogg doesn't reveal any secrets ... but we can already tell he's got some crazy stuff prepared.

BTW, Snoop was giving back to the community when we chopped it up with him -- the rap legend was handing out 2,500 turkeys in Inglewood alongside the Rams and Chargers.

Snoop was definitely into it -- he was dancing and hanging out with folks throughout the day ... while his own music blared in the background.

Matt Stafford's wife, Kelly, is sharing her side of "Pretzelgate" ... saying she "f***ing lost it" during the incident and will be taking a break from going to Rams away games.

TMZ Sports broke the story ... Kelly apologized last week for tossing a soft pretzel at a heckler during the Rams' road game against the San Francisco 49ers, which resulted in her being escorted out of the stadium just 5 minutes into the game.

Stafford had remained radio silent about the altercation -- aside from an Instagram comment -- until she addressed it on her "The Morning After" podcast Tuesday, when she admitted she lost her cool.

Kelly said she was getting incessantly heckled in her section by a Niners fan ... who kept saying things until she was fed up and "tossed" a piece of the snack, which hit him in the face.

After the incident, Kelly says she went up to the fan and apologized directly ... offering to buy his group some food and drinks, which he rejected.

Security then stepped in and escorted her out ... which Kelly says she didn't mind because she didn't want to watch the game anyway.

As for how Matt handled the news, Kelly says he joked about the whole thing, saying, "He said, 'Well, I wish I was as accurate as you were, but I guess only one person in the family was accurate that night.'"

Kelly says Matt also suggested she only attend home games for the time being ... which she agreed to.

Stafford also says her IG DMs were flooded since the incident ... even being called the c-word by trolls. But at the end of the day, she's owning up to her actions.

Matt Stafford's wife, Kelly Stafford, is apologizing for chucking a pretzel at a fan during the Rams vs. 49ers game Monday ... calling it all a "weak moment" and adding she was "embarrassed" by her actions.

TMZ Sports has learned ... the L.A. quarterback's significant other was in the stands during the Rams' "Monday Night Football" game in Santa Clara, when a fan behind her started trash talking.

According to one witness, Kelly snapped ... kicking off an altercation by hurling a soft pretzel at the man.

The witness tells us Levi's Stadium security eventually stepped in ... and escorted Kelly and her crew away from the area to other seats in the venue.

After the game -- one in which the Rams lost, 31-10 -- when a fan called out Stafford's wife for not diffusing the situation and letting things go ... Kelly issued a mea culpa.

"I'm an idiot," Kelly wrote on her social media page. "He was saying a bunch of things that were aggressive towards our crew but zero excuse."

"I tried to apologize, but in the end knew I was wrong. Will always stand up for my guy and everyone I love, but obviously needed to do it completely different!"

Kelly continued, "I'm embarrassed too! Sorry you had to witness me in my weak moment!"

We reached out to the Santa Clara Police Dept. to see if they were called over it all ... but a spokesperson tells us they were not aware of any such incident.

We contacted Levi's Stadium security ... so far, no word back.

We also talked to Matt's agent ... who declined to comment on the incident.