Stephen Dunn/Getty Images
The Los Angeles Chargers hosted the Philadelphia Eagles on Sunday, but you wouldn’t know it by the sound of the crowd.
The Chargers, who are playing their first season back in Los Angeles after 56 years in San Diego, have been struggling to attract support in their new home. Despite playing in a converted soccer stadium that holds just 28,000 while they wait for their permanent home to be built, Philip Rivers and company have not been drawing a large crowd, with more fans coming to support the opposing team than the Chargers.
This Sunday was a great example of how unfriendly home field can be to the Chargers. As the Eagles came out of the tunnel before the game, they were met widely by cheers, with Philadelphia transplants from across Los Angeles coming out to see their team.
Eagles take the field to this reception. This is wild. pic.twitter.com/wr64okhbaw
— Sheil Kapadia (@SheilKapadia) October 1, 2017
Compare that to the reception the Chargers, who again are supposed to be the home team, received from the crowd.
#Chargers getting booed in their rented home
Chargers eggin on #Eagles🦅 fans 😂😂 pic.twitter.com/hKz6mdo6TD
— John Clark CSN/NBC (@JClarkCSN) October 1, 2017
The contrast was so stark that it even became a focus of the broadcast, with sideline reporter Shannon Spake explaining that she’d heard “GO EAGLES” chants throughout the day.
Unless the Chargers can start to develop a local fanbase, this is a problem the franchise could face for some time. Both the Chargers and Rams are new to the city, and both teams have not done a great job of getting butts into seats to watch their games. Additionally, San Francisco has gone through a recent stretch of ticket woes, as fans saw when the 49ers hosted the Rams on Thursday Night Football in front of a largely empty stadium.
After Sunday’s game against the Eagles, the Chargers go on the road for a two game stretch. Usually road games are a haul for NFL teams, but with the reception the Chargers have been getting in Los Angeles, trips to New York and Oakland might feel like vacations.
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