To say the Los Angeles Chargers are having a rough time getting local football fans to warm up to them this year would be an understatement. While preseason football may not be all that much to get excited about, even the pathetic crowds the Chargers are drawing this summer is a bit of a surprise for the new team in town.
The Chargers recorded a crowd size of 21,197 for a preseason game against the New Orleans Saints. By stadium capacity figures, that wasn’t too bad for the 27,000-seat StubHub Center, but it is still leaving far more empty seats with unsold tickets, and we all know the actual attendance numbers trend down from the tickets sold figures.
In this case, the photo evidence suggests not all is well for the Chargers going into the new football season.
Wasnt sure if there would be less people than the 21, 054 that showed up for Chargers Carson debut, but yes. pic.twitter.com/xhPViLY2qs
— Marty Caswell (@MartyCaswell) August 21, 2017
Attendance tonight for Saints-Chargers* is announced as 21,197. Just a tad more than in the opener.
— Tom Krasovic (@SDUTKrasovic) August 21, 2017
For the Chargers, the hope has to be that fans will come out for games that actually mean something in the regular season. Going to a preseason game during the day in Los Angeles has to be toward the bottom of wish list items for even the most diehard football fans in the city. The regular season should be different. According to the Chargers, all season tickets have been sold for the 2017 season, though ticket prices for the team’s games in L.A. are reportedly twice as high as they were in San Diego.
The Chargers have struggled to make new friends in Los Angeles. They are coming to town one year after the Rams already won back some of their old fans and made progress with new ones. The Chargers have been having a rough go of it ever since they were ridiculed for a logo that looked strikingly similar to the Los Angeles Dodgers’ logo.
To add fuel to the dumpster fire that could be the Chargers in LA, the Raiders are actually claiming they are LA’s team, despite still playing in Oakland and planning to move to Las Vegas.
“A good portion have come from Los Angeles and Southern California,” Raiders owner Mark Davis said after a preseason game against the Rams. “Without stepping on any toes, we’re going to market ourselves in Los Angeles area. And San Diego. We’re reaching out to Raider Nation in Southern California. It’s strong there. I think we already won that battle.”
When a team playing in another city is the top team in Los Angeles, there are some problems to address by the Rams and the Chargers. But at least the Rams have some history to fall back on. The Chargers are pretty much starting from scratch in an established market.
