The Los Angeles Chargers have an attendance problem. The team is currently playing its games at the StubHub Center, a 27,000-seat venue that most notably is the home to the Los Angeles Galaxy of MLS. The Chargers will play there until their new stadium, which they will share with the Los Angeles Rams, opens up in 2020.
But so far, the Chargers experiment hasn’t gone especially well. This doesn’t necessarily mean on the field, even though Los Angeles came into Sunday with an 0-3 record. Arguably the more concerning issue is that people aren’t going to games. Here is a shot from the stadium before the team’s game against the Philadelphia Eagles.
https://twitter.com/LesBowen/status/914559768051687424
This isn’t just a one-week thing, either. The Chargers had to do this the last time they hosted a game at the StubHub Center, too.
You guys can make your snarky jokes but this is a nice MLS stadium that's tarped off seats to host an NFL game. pic.twitter.com/lTZKxkM6k8
— Sam Mellinger (@mellinger) September 24, 2017
The inherent issue that comes from moving a team is that there’s no guarantee that fans will immediately latch onto them, especially when they’re bad. But even then, you’d think that an NFL team could get 27,000 people to a game under most circumstances.
The fact remains that the Chargers have the smallest stadium in the NFL by more than 26,000 seats — the Oakland Raiders have the second-smallest capacity at 53,286 — but they can’t get people to buy tickets. There were rumblings about the team possibly heading back to San Diego if the Los Angeles experiment doesn’t work out, and this is the exact kind of thing that would make a return to their original home more feasible.
(Via For The Win)
