The joke that playing on the road against the Los Angeles Chargers is a home game no longer applies in 2019.
Fans in Southern California are clearly excited by the playoff potential of Philip Rivers and the Los Angeles Chargers. For the first time in a few years, making jokes about the home attendance of the Chargers might not be a relevant jab.
The Chargers announced on Wednesday that they had sold out of season tickets for the upcoming year at Dignity Health Sports Park (formerly StubHub Center). The Chargers have been hyped all offseason as one of the best overall NFL teams in the league, and some analysts have predicted they will win the AFC West over the Kansas City Chiefs and even the AFC to appear in the Super Bowl.
These aren’t hopes or guesses randomly made without evidence. Even Chiefs fans would admit the Chargers have a loaded roster. Rivers is a future Hall of Famer at quarterback with plenty left in the tank. The team’s offense has solid skill position players to go with a fearsome defense front to back. The Chargers are not only very talented but deep and they’re bringing in a nice draft class. That means major selling points (literal ones) for the Chargers ticket office.
That’s good news for a team that hasn’t exactly enjoyed any sort of home field advantage. Check this scene from last year’s game hosting the Chiefs.
How many Chargers fans do you see in this image of a Chargers home game pic.twitter.com/F97c2YiQuu
— Rodger Sherman (@rodger) September 9, 2018
That would simply never, ever happen at Arrowhead Stadium and the home base should be ashamed that was ever allowed. It’s been easy to pile on the Chargers since their own city doesn’t seem to care about the quality of football on the field. No one is watching. It got so bad the team just outright lied about it despite clear evidence to the contrary.
Chargers announce game as a sellout. Okie dokie pic.twitter.com/XJgyLufW3Q
— Marty Caswell (@MartyCaswell) November 25, 2018
As recently as 2017, the official totals were just over 25,000 fans per game for the Chargers. That’s a pitiful total compared to even the worst NFL teams. The entire stadium holds only 27K, but that means the Chargers couldn’t fill a half-stadium’s worth of fans every given week. In 2018, the official reported numbers were 32K fans per game in L.A. to watch the Chargers, meaning there were supposedly thousands of standing room only fans, but the aforementioned tweets show the team was outright lying.
Now perhaps the team will begin to enjoy an actual home advantage of very real Chargers fans rooting for Rivers and company. It’s not that the Chargers have sold out the season just yet, but clearly this is a nice step after struggling since moving from San Diego.