Los Angeles Chargers Welcomed Another Embarrassing Crowd In Week 3
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Stop me if you’ve heard this before: the crowd at StubHub Center for a San Diego Los Angeles Chargers game was awful. A huge portion of the crowd were Kansas City Chiefs fans, and for the fourth time in four games at the stadium (including two preseason contests) there were plenty of empty seats. And just a friendly reminder, StubHub only seats 27,000.
How bad was it? Well, the Chargers knew the crowd was so pro-Chiefs that they didn’t even do player introductions over the public address system due to fears their own players would get booed. In their home stadium. In a new city the league told us was so desperate to have the NFL that it could support two teams. A city Dean Spanos said contained 25 percent of the team’s fans.
So, the “Fight for LA” is going swimmingly it appears.
Check out some of the tweets and crowd shots from the day:
National Anthem in Los Angeles ends with a loud "home of the CHIEFS"
— Marty Caswell (@MartyCaswell) September 24, 2017
Anthem from StubHub - Spanos' locked arms with team pic.twitter.com/wlFpZeuBKG
— Dan Woike (@DanWoikeSports) September 24, 2017
No player intros. Last time I can remember that happening for home game was vs. Raiders. When they were overwhelmed by visiting fans
— Marty Caswell (@MartyCaswell) September 24, 2017
There is a good amount of #Chiefs red here. So far, though, #Chargers fans are louder. pic.twitter.com/o0Ha8BN5Si
— Annie Heilbrunn (@annieheilbrunn) September 24, 2017
Kickoff crowd for #Chargers #Chiefs ... people still wandering in. pic.twitter.com/efzIomfCYY
— Annie Heilbrunn (@annieheilbrunn) September 24, 2017
Lots of Chiefs fans here for Chargers home game pic.twitter.com/pQtxE85VVm
— Jaime Maggio (@jaimemaggio) September 24, 2017
The fight for LA is not going well for Chargers. Lots of red and empty seats. #rams pic.twitter.com/bDsIcjHwPh
— MarkE (@MarkELA94) September 24, 2017
These are from the second quarter:
@sdutPosner This is currently. Not from kickoff or anything. Or maybe they're in concession stands pic.twitter.com/OdZPRmXNTr
— Marty Caswell (@MartyCaswell) September 24, 2017
The Chargers are driving at the end of the 2nd quarter and home team side isn't there. #rams #emptyseats pic.twitter.com/WrScM7MS09
— MarkE (@MarkELA94) September 24, 2017
To add yet another embarrassment to this mess, this banner was flying over the stadium before the game:
" The SD fans want their team back! Does @Kevin_Faulconer ? @NFL @Chargers @Chiefs #fightforsd pic.twitter.com/GgWz5rCmIJ — Scott Kaplan (@ScottKaplan) September 24, 2017 "
As I and may others have said repeatedly, the Chargers move to Los Angeles was moronic, mishandled and has been a disaster. Ultimately it will be a failure and the league knows it.
UPDATE: The Chargers claim the game was a sellout:
Chargers say it's a sellout of 25, 386
— Marty Caswell (@MartyCaswell) September 24, 2017
To explain that “sellout,” remember the NFL only counts “tickets distributed” not the amount of people who go through the turnstiles. At this point it’s clear ticket brokers bought up a ton of the team’s season ticket packages hoping there would be demand for re-sale tickets. The demand isn’t there, which is why those tickets have been purchased but don’t have people in them. The brokers haven’t been able to unload those tickets on anyone.