Will major sports start to downsize the live experience?

In a recent MMQB column, Los Angeles Chargers owner Dean Spanos says major sports will begin to downsize in the future. Is this true?

The christening comes every few years.

The ribbon cutting, the grandstanding and photo opps are all part of the pomp and circumstance held by owners of sports franchises every now and then as local taxpayers in a specific metro area decide to pony up and pay for a new arena. In almost every circumstance, the stadium is bigger and better than before. A roof that closes and opens. An overwhelming facade. All the bells and whistles.

Ooh. Aah.

The trend hasn’t slowed in recent years, since there’s always a new city anxious to steal a team away if a fan base isn’t willing to give the owner what he wants. With two new franchises in L.A., a new stadium is also on the way. U.S. Bank Stadium, home of the Minnesota Vikings, still has that new car smell. Mercedes-Benz Stadium, home of the Atlanta Falcons, opens in a few weeks.

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Given that his own team is a part of this bigger and better push, it’s surprising then to hear Chargres owner Dean Spanos say what he did in a recent Monday Morning Quarterback post from Peter King. Specifically, in response to the fact that the Chargers are playing this next year in the very small StubHub Center (read: only 30,000 seats), he asks whether it’s a bad thing?

"“Is that bad?” he said. “Is it bad that every seat is sold, and the fan experience is positive? How is that bad? You may start to see the downsizing of stadiums in sports anyway.”"

If the trend shows no immediate signs of slowing down, why would sports owners start to downsize? The mantra is always about bigger and better. More amenities. More tax dollars. More. More. More. What in the world would have inspired Spanos to try to spin a stadium experience half as big as other NFL homes?

He’s either cuckoo or correct. And there’s a good argument to be made for the latter.

The live experience has gotten out of hand in most markets, if not all, for the average fan. By the time a person pays for the cost of a game ticket, parking, concessions and so on, the cost has become prohibitive for many fans, especially for family units. This doesn’t even include the hassle of finding parking, the obnoxious nature of many fans (which can ruin the experience) and the seats that are often so far from the field that you question whether it’s worth the work to sit outside in December rooting for your favorite team.

From convenience and comfort to time and money, most NFL fans choose to stay home for good reason.

Compare this to being able to be at home and watch the game up close from multiple angles. It’s a comfortable environment where you can also multi-task, pause the game if needed, and never have to worry about the time or money invested to get there and back again (a la Bilbo Baggins). From convenience and comfort to time and money, most NFL fans choose to stay home for good reason.

That’s not to say that staying home is the best option. It’s not. It might be the preferred option for many fans, especially families or casual fans, but there’s also something transcendent about the shared experience of attending a game in person. It’s a communal thrill to witness an incredible play in person, to be able to point and say, “I was there when this happened!” It’s the instant kinship that comes from high-fiving strangers after an electrifying return or a hit that leaves the opponent short of the first down marker.

If downsizing becomes the new normal sometime soon, it could prove to be the antidote needed to bring fans back to the live experience. Consider the beauty of seeing a concert in an intimate theater versus the chaos and crowds of a festival experience. There’s an audience for both, but in this analogy, the festival crowds just keep getting bigger, the lights brighter, the noises louder. Given the competition of staying home, sports franchises might do well to consider how to make the live experience more intimate and unique than ever.

There will always be a demand for the live experience, but owners might start feeling the pinch of not being able to fill a full stadium. Even recently the Chiefs unveiled a season ticket package for $200 that includes all preseason and regular season games. That’s a far cry from what a season ticket normally costs and represents the pressure a franchise can feel to fill seats.

Lowering prices is a good start. Making the experience more intimate might be even better.

In a recent MMQB column, Los Angeles Chargers owner Dean Spanos says major sports will begin to downsize in the future. Is this true?

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