Despite early-season attendance struggles for both the Los Angeles Rams and Los Angeles Chargers, the NFL is standing behind the LA market.
The Chargers are playing their first season in the Los Angeles region after relocating from San Diego, making them the second team to shift to LA in as many years. Their home debut at Carson’s 27,000-seat StubHub Center was greeted with a less-than-impressive attendance figure, as a reported 25,381 fans turned out for Sunday’s 19-17 loss to the Miami Dolphins.
Meanwhile, at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, the Rams welcomed just 56,612 fans to their week two loss against the Washington Redskins, a figure below the 60,128 spectators who turned out for their week one win over the Indianapolis Colts.
While week two–the first since 1994 in which the Los Angeles area hosted two NFL games–did not result in strong attendance figures for either team, NFL officials are emphasizing their commitment–as well as that of both teams–to the LA market. In comments on Monday, an NFL spokesman stated the league, Rams, and Chargers are confident in the market, and noted the anticipation for the new stadium in Inglewood that is slated to begin hosting both teams in 2020. More from USA Today:
“To a person, both at the club level and here at the league office, we remain confident that the city of Los Angeles can support in a very strong way two franchises, and we’re committed to making that happen as we work toward the opening of the new stadium,” spokesman Joe Lockhart told reporters on a conference call.
Despite being years away from opening, the new stadium is already slotted to host Super Bowl LVI in 2022 and will be put to use for the 2028 Summer Olympics. The facility was initally expected to open in 2019, but severe rainfall during the early phases of construction led to a delay. That means that the Chargers and Rams will remain in their current homes–StubHub Center and the Coliseum, respectively–through the 2019 season.