The most shocking headline you'll see all year.

[Direckshun]

http://deadspin.com/los-angeles-does...ers-1818503650

Los Angeles Doesn't Care About The Chargers
Barry Petchesky
Yesterday 9:07am

Sunday saw the return of the Los Angeles Chargers, their first home game since 1960, and no one’s very excited about it.

New and relocated teams usually get a first-year attendance bump, just from the novelty. The Chargers are a good team with an offense that’s fun to watch. Their temporary home, a soccer-specific stadium, is intimate and unique. There are plenty of reasons the Chargers might draw a good crowd. None of those reasons, apparently, are enough to overcome the hard realties of deep, deep disinterest:

Opening kickoff crowd for @chargers game today - this can't be blamed on the weather pic.twitter.com/aKrXr9Bmiq

— Matt Baylow (@MattBaylow) September 18, 2017

A stadium that seats 27,000 couldn’t sell out, drawing an officially (generously) announced crowd of 25,381 for a 19-17 loss to the Dolphins. Making that attendance figure even sadder is that half of paying fans weren’t there to see the Chargers. “There were a lot of Miami fans out there,” Melvin Gordon said. “I think it was around 50-50.”

Including, perhaps, the person in charge of setting off the cannon after Chargers scores. Listen for the boom as Younghoe Koo missed a 44-yarder that would’ve won the game:

Younghoe Koo misses his try for the winning kick... Dolphins win.

Final:
LA - 17
Miami - 19#Chargers #Dolphins #Stubhub pic.twitter.com/fj0qepZJZW

— Rich Ohrnberger (@ohrnberger) September 17, 2017

You’ll also hear a lot of cheers in that video. Those are the Dolphins fans, and they confused Philip Rivers all afternoon:

“I heard the roar before I saw the official’s signal,” Rivers said. “I wasn’t sure which roar it was.”

Well, and why not? The Chargers have done everything in their power to alienate their old fan base (a plane towed a banner over the stadium calling Dean Spanos the worst owner in sports), and little to cultivate a new fan base. They fled San Diego three full seasons before their new stadium will be ready, and in the meantime they’re charging $100 for parking. They’re already second fiddle in their new city, a subordination that will be even more marked once they move in with the Rams. Philip Rivers said the team needs to win and it’ll see better attendance, but Los Angeles isn’t exactly tabula rasa for fandom. There are a lot of people from all over, with their own rooting interests, and a strong strain of Raiders fandom runs through the city, and any fans excited for a new team probably jumped aboard with the Rams last year. In short, it is difficult to picture a combination of circumstances and sensibilities that would lead a person to becoming a Los Angeles Chargers fan.

Let’s be clear: None of this is an indictment of those Chargers fans that exist or of Angelenos. You’re under no obligations to go to games, and considering how much better television is than the live NFL experience, the incentives are already slim. The NFL is a business, and if people aren’t consuming a product, that’s a sign of a failure of the company to offer a product people want to consume. And, potentially, a fatal misread of the market. Could it be possible, after the NFL spent decades using Los Angeles as a threat to strong-arm cities into building stadiums to keep their teams, that Los Angeles didn’t actually want its own team, let alone two? It’s still very early, but:

Kickoff at the Coliseum between the Rams and Redskins. Not many here to see it. pic.twitter.com/XAwandU2l6

— Lindsey Thiry (@LindseyThiry) September 17, 2017

[Reerun_KC]

Originally Posted by SuperChief

What if - and I know this sounds crazy - what if they supported both??

Well the last time that was brought up around here there was a lot of push back from fans.

Plus college is affordable. Not enough disposable income out here to pay NFL pricing.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[ping2000]

Originally Posted by seaofred

Salt Lake City would be cool. I've also wondered what Portland, OR would do with an team.

Portland? ****ing fruit loops would demand a synthetic football and all vegan concessions.

[Rasputin]

I'd like to see the Chargers go to St. Louis.

[3rd&Long]

Here's a truism I happen to believe: All business success is sales-marketing success AND the opposite is true as well. So if that's the case, the LAC need to do a far better job of sales-marketing in LA.

Start with cutting the parking fee down to a reasonable sum of say $20. Encourage the players to make personal appearances at schools and other public functions. Cut ticket prices and include things like a 3 game family value pack that includes a tray of cheap to provide food such as 4 hot dogs, and soft drinks with every visit. Play up the intimate stadium where no extended post game traffic jams will happen.

There's far more moving parts to making the LAC a 'wanted' ticket but these would do for a start. Of course the best promotion of all is a winning team.

[DJ's left nut]

Originally Posted by Direckshun

The Rams are the only team I think that's doing this right.

They left a city that was lukewarm about them to go to a huge market that has a history with them. Instead of begging for public funding, they're going to fork over their own money to build a stadium, and from the looks of it, it's going to be the nicest one in the league (until that Vegas one theoretically gets built). They've put a fair amount of effort into branding and messaging. And their team is pretty well coached and has the key pieces in place for a swift rebuild.

The Chargers didn't even think it through. All the way down to their logo this was just corporate and mindless. LA doesn't give two shits about this team and never has, and that's going to get even worse when the Chargers ask the public for money on a stadium. They may have to pay the Rams for rent.

Spanos got called on a bluff, that's all there is to it.

Spanos: "If you don't build my new stadium, I'm going to L.A..."

SD: "**** off"

Spanos: "No seriously guys, I'm going to leave. I'll give you one more chance to build me a new stadium or I'm really going to go to L.A..."

SD: "****. Off."

Spanos:.....{sheepishly packing his suitcase}...."well fine, I'm just gonna go then. You guys are mean." {stomps out of room like jilted toddler}

Everything - absolutely everything - about the SD conundrum had a really easy solution and one the NFL should've absolutely forced: Make Spanos build or sell. You don't give him his relocation. You don't let him fleece SD taxpayers. You tell him he can build his own goddamn stadium that ISN'T one of the ridiculous Jerrahdomes or Kroenke Palaces or he can sell the team to any number of arrogant billionaires that would love that feather in their cap.

This was a dumb idea approved by greedy, shortsighted owners who wanted a chunk of the relocation fee and all driven by a skinflit moron who wrote a check he never had any real interest in cashing.

I'm not sure quite how to turn this into a WWI analogue, but I'm sure that if given enough time you could make it happen. Somehow I'm confident that the Spanos clan would end up being Austria in the whole thing.

[DaneMcCloud]

Originally Posted by 3rd&Long

Here's a truism I happen to believe: All business success is sales-marketing success AND the opposite is true as well. So if that's the case, the LAC need to do a far better job of sales-marketing in LA.

Start with cutting the parking fee down to a reasonable sum of say $20. Encourage the players to make personal appearances at schools and other public functions. Cut ticket prices and include things like a 3 game family value pack that includes a tray of cheap to provide food such as 4 hot dogs, and soft drinks with every visit. Play up the intimate stadium where no extended post game traffic jams will happen.

There's far more moving parts to making the LAC a 'wanted' ticket but these would do for a start. Of course the best promotion of all is a winning team.

None of this is reasonable because the Chargers would lose money. They're already on the hook for a $500 million dollar relocation fee and lowering parking and tickets won't help that issue, whatsoever.

As for "Meet & Greets", that's just not gonna happen, either. The city is Huge and traffic is absolutely insane on a daily basis. Other than that obstacle, where are you planning to have this "Meet & Greet"? Why would anyone living in the Valley or DTLA or Hollywood or Beverly Hills drive to Costa Mesa to meet some backup football player? Rivers isn't doing it because he's on the road for 3 hours minimum each day commuting from San Diego to Costa Mesa. Carson is even further.

The Chargers are ****ed.

[DJ's left nut]

Originally Posted by RunKC

Oklahoma City
San Antonio
Salt Lake City
Memphis

Chargers should look at putting their NFL team in one of these cities. They would surely draw more fans than San Diego or LA.

OKC doesn't have the money to support it and what money they do have fluctuates on oil prices; western OK is all oil-patch country and OKC can get real poor, real fast when that's not going well.

Memphis has a football team like, 2 hours away in Nashville. I mean I guess they could try to siphon off some Rams fans but they're already spoken for by and large. Additionally, Memphis is also a complete shithole for about 1/2 the city.

San Antonio might be interesting but you'd have to pry that out of Jerrah's cold, dead fingers, IMO. Nice per capita wealth and an increasing population. That could actually work.

Salt Lake City...I have no idea. Has anyone ever actually thought about this city? Are we sure it actually exists?

My 3 picks would be: Charlotte, Portland and my #1 completely batshit idea - Toronto ****ing Canada.

Why the hell not? Toronto and the surrounding areas are quite wealthy. The CFL survives and in many cases thrives. Could we convince them that they want an NFL team up north? I suspect the CFL would have kittens and hell, it might actually be illegal (you'd have to think the Argonauts lease contains some exclusions but contracts exist to be broken).

But man, I really think a team in Toronto would work.

[DaneMcCloud]

Originally Posted by DJ's left nut

Spanos got called on a bluff, that's all there is to it.

Yep and they really got screwed when Clark Hunt led the majority of the owners in choosing the Inglewood site over the Carson site that would have hosted the Raiders and Chargers.

Carson wasn't going to build a $1.6 billion dollar stadium for the Chargers and Kroenke's been planning the move to Los Angeles for more than a decade, so his presentation blew away the other owners.

At that point, it was game over.

[3rd&Long]

Originally Posted by DaneMcCloud

None of this is reasonable because the Chargers would lose money. They're already on the hook for a $500 million dollar relocation fee and lowering parking and tickets won't help that issue, whatsoever.

As for "Meet & Greets", that's just not gonna happen, either. The city is Huge and traffic is absolutely insane on a daily basis. Other than that obstacle, where are you planning to have this "Meet & Greet"? Why would anyone living in the Valley or DTLA or Hollywood or Beverly Hills drive to Costa Mesa to meet some backup football player? Rivers isn't doing it because he's on the road for 3 hours minimum each day commuting from San Diego to Costa Mesa. Carson is even further.

The Chargers are ****ed.

If all that's as you portray it, then the opposite of my statement will soon enough visit the LAC: All business failure is sales-marketing failure but I wouldn't give up without a fight for relevance in spite of what appears a poor business decision to go to LA in the first place.

[tredadda]

Originally Posted by DJ's left nut

OKC doesn't have the money to support it and what money they do have fluctuates on oil prices; western OK is all oil-patch country and OKC can get real poor, real fast when that's not going well.

Memphis has a football team like, 2 hours away in Nashville. I mean I guess they could try to siphon off some Rams fans but they're already spoken for by and large. Additionally, Memphis is also a complete shithole for about 1/2 the city.

San Antonio might be interesting but you'd have to pry that out of Jerrah's cold, dead fingers, IMO. Nice per capita wealth and an increasing population. That could actually work.

Salt Lake City...I have no idea. Has anyone ever actually thought about this city? Are we sure it actually exists?

My 3 picks would be: Charlotte, Portland and my #1 completely batshit idea - Toronto ****ing Canada.

Why the hell not? Toronto and the surrounding areas are quite wealthy. The CFL survives and in many cases thrives. Could we convince them that they want an NFL team up north? I suspect the CFL would have kittens and hell, it might actually be illegal (you'd have to think the Argonauts lease contains some exclusions but contracts exist to be broken).

But man, I really think a team in Toronto would work.

They already have a team that plays there.

[Discuss Thrower]

Vegas getting the Chargers would have made more sense than LA.

[DJ's left nut]

Originally Posted by 3rd&Long

If all that's as you portray it, then the opposite of my statement will soon enough visit the LAC: All business failure is sales-marketing failure but I wouldn't give up without a fight for relevance in spite of what appears a poor business decision to go to LA in the first place.

Well that's just patently absurd.

Sometime's it's a product failure. You can shit in a box and call it a diamond all day; market it all you want. But if you're selling shit it's still just a box of shit.

It takes a lifelong (arrogant as ****) salesman to believe that every failed business is because someone just didn't sell it well enough. Oh sure - many of them are. But sometimes you just aren't providing a product that a market wants, no matter how badly you try to convince them that they want it.

It's a quaint pitch that I'd expect to hear in Glengarry Glenn Ross, but it's wrong.

[ModSocks]

Keep in mind too that a fair number of those Charger fans that still watch them on T.V and go to the games early on are hate-watching. Watching purely to see them fail. That too is a novelty that will quickly wear off.

Expect attendance and T.V viewership to decline ever further once the bitter hate-watchers stop giving a ****.

[DJ's left nut]

Originally Posted by tredadda

They already have a team that plays there.

{facepalm}

That they do, sir. That they do. But hey - they get pretty good crowds right! So see, I've been proven right already!

Now if you'll excuse me, I'll kindly go kick my own ass.

[tredadda]

Originally Posted by DJ's left nut

{facepalm}

That they do, sir. That they do. But hey - they get pretty good crowds right! So see, I've been proven right already!

Now if you'll excuse me, I'll kindly go kick my own ass.