The Los Angeles Chargers are Doomed to a Life as Second Bananas....
The team itself is pretty good, 4-2 this season (2018), racking up points behind star QB Philip Rivers and generally playing good football.
However the Los Angeles Chargers are also playing before houses full of their opponents fans---even when in their temporary home....The Stub Hub Center.
"The Hub" seats roughly 30,000---less than half of most NFL Stadiums (it's a soccer stadium) and the Chargers struggle to pack it out.
Which may be a problem since they're playing at "The Hub" until 2020....
However, a bigger problem may be reports The Chargers are struggling to sell PSL's/seats in their future home, Los Angeles Stadium at Hollywood Park a.k.a home of the Los Angeles Rams and owned/built by Rams owner Stan Kroenke.
Which makes them secondary tenants in their own soon-to-be home and it appears they'll be stuck for awhile as their lease with Kroenke and the Rams states they'll be tenants for at least 20 and possibly 30-years.
There's reason for concern---despite the NFL and Commissioner The Jolly Roger Goodell saying they are not worried the Chargers have only garnered $250 million of their expected $400 million haul for the PSL's....
Here's the issue---at least as most of us on the outside see it....
It has little or nothing to do with the Chargers themselves, okay, maybe a little bit since they botched the whole stadium issue in San Diego and moved to Los Angeles to be a 2nd banana.
I'm pretty sure---despite not having the NFL's oodles of research, the City of Los Angeles has little to no interest in having 2 NFL teams. This despite the NFL still being immensely popular in many places.
There were several reasons the Rams left L.A. the first time, fan apathy was on that list. Like many large cities who's history with the NFL doesn't date back to the Stone Age, there's not a humungous groundswell of legacy fans there.
There are a lot of things to do in Los Angeles, many of which don't involve having to drop a $1000 or so for a PSL so you can buy a $120 ticket to go to an NFL game. Sure, I know, L.A is the 2nd largest Metro area in population in the entire U.S...I get that.
But unless you're an entertainer or a businessperson with disposable income, why would you drop that much money to go to 8 NFL games a year?? Think about it for a minute.
I know, if you are from New England or New York or Green Bay or Philadelphia or Pittsburgh---you don't even think twice about that question---it's what you do. It's what your parents did and your grandparents did....
But not everyone lives in a legacy town.
L.A. also has the Dodgers and the Lakers and the Clippers. And much like the Chargers, the Clippers are and always have been 2nd banana. Almost an afterthought for NBA fans....
Which is what the Chargers are finding out.
Yes, they'll stay in L.A. and yes, they'll have some moderate success. And they'll be a handful of fans who come to the games.
Crowds will be announced as at--or near sellouts and the NFL will regale in them not failing....
Which is an affront to the people of San Diego and to those of us who follow Sports period. But hey, it's not about the fans when you get down to the details...
It has everything to do with the money.....
