Chargers', Rams' weak attendance Sunday

More publications are wondering if Los Angeles will be a good home for two pro football teams after the Chargers (San Diego transplants this year) and Rams (St. Louis transplants last year) had poor attendance Sunday, September 17.

As announced, the Chargers only drew a bit over 25,000 at the StubHub Center, which seats only 27,000. "By one estimate, half the maybe 20,000 fans, if you're being generous, at [Sunday's] Chargers-Miami Dolphins were rooting for the Dolphins," says Neil deMause of fieldofschemes.com.

Only 56,612 were there for the Rams-Washington game at the mammoth L.A. Coliseum, which seats 93,607. The total attendance for the Rams and Chargers games was less than the 81,000 that showed up for the Texas-USC game Saturday at the Coliseum, says au.sports.yahoo.com.

The National Football League says it is confident that L.A. can support two league teams. Even DeMause points out, "None of this is is a crisis just yet: It can take awhile to build a fan base for a relocated team."

Publications such as Forbes and USA Today commented on the weak attendance for the teams. There is a general feeling that traffic and parking are so bad in L.A. that people might rather sit at home and watch games on TV. Traffic and parking, along with a boiling-hot sun, are turning off fans at the San Francisco 49ers stadium in Santa Clara.

The Rams had the second-best attendance in the league last year. Of course, the first few years are often prosperous because of the novelty effect. The Rams and Chargers will be home teams at the new Inglewood stadium in 2020.