The NFL’s return to Los Angeles has been nothing short failure for the Chargers and the Rams thus far, and it’s reaching a level of embarrassment for the Chargers.
After needing to section of portions of unsold seats in the 27,000 seat Stubhub Stadium, the temporary home of the Chargers, the team took on the Eagles Sunday before a rousing crowd of Eagles fans. The Chargers were even booed during player introductions while at home.
Not only is the team’s attendance a cause of much concern for the team and the NFL, the television deals are an even bigger red flag.
Los Angeles sportscaster Fred Roggin tweeted out the local ratings for Week 4’s games in the LA market, and neither the hometown Chargers or Rams were the most watched game in the city Sunday.
LA Week 4 TV rankings:
1. Colts-Seahawks
2. #Rams-Cowboys
3. #Raiders-Broncos
4. Dolphins-Saints
5. Steelers-Ravens
tie
5.#Chargers-Eagles— Fred Roggin (@FredNBCLA) October 2, 2017
In fact, the Chargers game was the fifth most watch game Sunday. Perhaps most embarrassingly, the Dolphins-Saints London game, a game that kicked off at 6:30am local time, had more viewers than Chargers-Eagles.
This isn’t a one week fluke either, but likely to be a trend that we will see throughout the season. NFL fans in Los Angeles have had two decades of watching the best and biggest games every week and not having to be tied down by a local market franchise. This was always going to be the concern with teams coming to Los Angeles. The market just doesn’t want to support an NFL team of their own, let alone two teams.
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