CARSON – OK, so I know it was a preseason game.
And I know Philip Rivers ended up not playing.
And I know the Saints, nationally, aren’t the Cowboys or, regionally, the Raiders.
But, even with all those excuses, shouldn’t the Chargers be able to generate more buzz than – I can’t believe I’m about to write this – the Padres?
Or, worse still, attract more fans?
That’s the fourth-place and buried-alive Padres, you know, a team 14 games below .500 and 33 games behind the Dodgers.
And the Chargers? They’re still undefeated – like everyone in the NFL in August – and feature an offense potentially as high-flying as Southwest Airlines.
Still, San Diego’s baseball team sold 29,292 tickets for its game Sunday at Petco Park, comfortably outdrawing San Diego’s former football team, the Chargers again luring a crowd that fit loosely into many parts of StubHub Center.
The official attendance was 21,197, a few more than were here Aug. 13 for the first exhibition of a team still trying to show it’s wanted in its new home.
To be sure, the “Fight For L.A.” will be an uphill one, this relocated franchise first needing to get L.A.’s attention before going after L.A.’s heart.
As far as honeymoons go, this one appears to be over before it had a chance to get started, the Chargers not helping by losing to New Orleans, 13-7, with an offensive performance Coach Anthony Lynn described as “couldn’t have gotten any uglier.”
Now, let’s be fair. This place seats only about 27,000, meaning the Chargers weren’t going to outdraw the Padres on Sunday under even the most public-demanding of circumstances.
The numbers also reflect tickets sold for the Padres compared to people who genuinely showed up for the Chargers.
And, most notable of all, this is the preseason, a comically watered-down version of its product that the NFL still insists on selling at top-shelf prices.
As just one example, on Sunday, a spot in the tailgate parking lot cost $100, which read like a punchline but instead was delivered by the Chargers with a straight face.
All around the league, preseason games are played before seats left empty, often by season-ticket holders who decide to save their time – and money – for the real thing.
Yet, the Chargers now have twice failed to attract more fans to this stadium than the L.A. Galaxy did for its most recent home game, and I’m pretty certain the NFL considers itself to be slightly superior to the MLS.
It also isn’t the greatest endorsement of an NFL team’s popularity when, an hour before kickoff, tickets are available for as little as $25 and they still aren’t being purchased.
Yes, the largest stretches of empty seats Sunday were toasting in the sun for the first half, not the most comfortable of views. But isn’t part of being in L.A. soaking up the rays?
What’s even stranger for the Chargers is the fact their new home itself was expected to be a bigger draw, a bigger draw because it isn’t big at all.
StubHub Center is by a gaping margin the most intimate setting in professional football. Yet, there were rows and rows here with plenty of room for elbows and knees and any other body parts that wouldn’t squeeze into a single seat.
Presented with perhaps the most unique view the NFL ever has offered, a lot of people so far still have chosen to stay away.
It isn’t just the raw numbers, either, but the atmosphere wrapped around those numbers for the Chargers’ first two exhibitions.
Just outside the stadium Sunday, the team was staging what it calls the “Ultimate Fan Experience,” a large tented party area that will be available throughout the regular season, as well.
About 90 minutes before kickoff, in a space that could accommodate at least hundreds, a DJ was playing music to maybe 50 people.
There were no lines anywhere, not for the food trucks, not for the restrooms, not even for the trailer dispensing Bud Light.
Believe it, the mood was distant Sunday, and what if it gets worse?
What happens in the regular season if the Chargers still can’t fill the smallest stadium this league has featured in more than a half-century?
What happens on Dec. 3 when the miserable Browns visit and there aren’t enough Cleveland fans – as opposed to Raiders fans, for instance – to gobble up unwanted tickets?
What happens if the NFL stages a game and so few people show up that confirmation from an outside source is needed to assure that the event actually took place?
This could become an embarrassment to a league that doesn’t exactly take being embarrassed very well.
Then again, maybe the Chargers are just an acquired taste, one that L.A. won’t be convinced is worth sampling until there are a few victories served up.
Whether you’re glad they’re here or not, the Chargers certainly deserve the chance to prove they and their games aren’t any more popular in the regular season.
At halftime Sunday, a group of children entertained on the field by playing a scrimmage. Afterward, in an interview that could be heard throughout StubHub Center, one of the kids was asked to name his most favorite NFL team ever.
Following an awkward, stadium-filling pause, he sheepishly replied, “Chargers?”
That, as much as ever today, remains the question: Chargers? Finding enough people who answer “yes” clearly will take some time.
