Are Fans in LA Supporting the Teams?
The Bolts play home games at Dignity Health Sports Park. The facility is primarily used for pro soccer games and holds just 27,000 fans – the lowest capacity stadium in the NFL by a whopping 38,000 seats.
In week 6 of this season LA sounded and looked more like Pittsburgh as Steeler fans took over Dignity Health Sports Park. What really irked Charger players was Steeler anthem “Renegade” by Styx blaring from their speakers.
Chargers guard Forrest Lamp told the Los Angeles Times, “We’re used to not having any fans here. It does suck, though, when they’re playing their music in the fourth quarter. We’re the ones at home. I don’t know who’s in charge of that but they probably should be fired.”
The Chargers’ play has dipped significantly this year. They lost four games all of last year but have five losses already in 2019. The Rams are following their run to the Super Bowl with a similar spiral.
Just last week, the NFL and Chargers owner Dean Spanos had to shoot down a report in The Athletic claiming the NFL was considering moving the team to London.
Rams running back Todd Gurley saw an end-of-season slide in his All-Pro skills continue into this year. The ex-Georgia Bulldog is just one underperformer for McVay’s team. An offensive line that was one of the NFL’s best has regressed which has had a significant negative impact on Goff. The Rams ended a 3 game losing streak with an impressive 37-10 road win at Atlanta in week 7.
“The Battle for LA” between the Rams and Chargers has been a no-contest for the defending NFC champs. However, Los Angeles has shown that if the winning does not continue, fans have no problem staying away. Just last week the LA Memorial Coliseum looked more like Levi’s Stadium with the 49’ers in town.
The Rams and Chargers will eventually share the state-of-the-art SoFi Stadium when it opens in 2020. If LA fans bring their passion to the party remains as complicated as the history of pro football in their town.
