The days of the Chargers playing inside a soccer stadium in the Los Angeles area are finally over, and it’s safe to say their players will not miss that.
The Chargers moved from San Diego to Los Angeles after the 2016 season and have been playing home games in Carson ever since. The lack of fan support in LA has been evident, with the stadium often being overrun by fans of opponents the Chargers are playing. The result has been the home environment feeling like road games.
On Sunday, the Chargers lost in Carson to the Raiders 24-17. There were many more Raiders fans in the stadium than Chargers fans, which makes sense considering there are more Raiders fans in LA than Chargers fans owing to the team’s time in the city from 1982-1994.
There were even boos when the Chargers ran onto the field before the game:
#Chargers booed coming out of the tunnel for one final time in Carson pic.twitter.com/1xRGuv0uDw
— Daniel Popper (@danielrpopper) December 22, 2019
Longtime Chargers quarterback Philip Rivers, who remembers what it was like playing in San Diego, talked after the game about what it’s like having a road environment at home. He called it “disheartening”, according to Marty Caswell.
Philip Rivers on hostile crowd "We definitely have gotten used to it. It's tough…but being someone that remembers what it used to be like in home games, it's pretty bad. It's disheartening." #SanDiego
— Marty Caswell (@MartyCaswell) December 23, 2019
Rivers on if lack if home field for last 3 years has worn on the team "It's certainly not ideal. That's the best way I can say it."
— Marty Caswell (@MartyCaswell) December 23, 2019
Some may think things will be better when they move into their new stadium in Inglewood, where they’re tenants in a stadium owned by the Rams, but that just means the road feel may be even more magnified. If it’s bad having 25,000 opposing fans in a stadium at home, what will it be like with double that amount? It might be even worse.
The players didn’t ask for this, so it’s hard not to feel badly for them.
