By Jordan Long
The L.A. Chargers might be looking for a new home. They currently play at the ROKiT Field at Dignity Health Sports Park which is the home of the soccer team the L.A. Galaxy. The capacity for the StubHub Center is around 27,000, making it the smallest NFL home. They are supposed to move to Englewood, California next year to share the arena with the L.A. Rams but there are rumors the Chargers could move to England but that may not happen for 5 years. The NFL has an option to extend London games after next season.
The Chargers are the team with the lowest average attendance. This season they have around 25,383 fans per game. That is close to a sell out each game. The next closest team is the Cincinnati Bengals with an average of 46,487 fans.
The Chargers haven’t been embraced by the city of L.A. like the Rams. One reason could be is the Chargers are new to the city. The Rams played in L.A. from 1946 to 1995. The city was able to have the team back when Stan Kroenke, owner of the Rams, decided to move them from St. Louis prior to the 2016 season. People there are going to the games and enjoying the fact the Rams are back. The Chargers are just the second team there and it seems like nobody cares about them.
The NFL hopes a new home will help the Chargers. It may not. If people don’t attend games for the Chargers, it is possible they will lose the Chargers to London, England.
Since 2007, the NFL has played at least 1 game in London. This season there were 4 played there. The “home” team loses a real home game which means instead of 8 games, they play 7 in their own stadium. On October 6th, the Oakland Raiders beat the Chicago Bears 24-21 in Tottenham Stadium. The next weekend, also in Tottenham stadium, the Carolina Panthers knocked off the Tampa Bay Buccaneers 37-26.
The NFL switched venues for the final two London Series games and the games were held at Wembley Stadium. The L.A. Rams defeated the Cincinnati Bengals 24-10 on October 27th. This past weekend the Houston Texans drummed the Jacksonville Jaguars 26-3. All of these games have been a success because they have sold out the stadium with around 84,000 in attendance.
The NFL knows American football works in London. They have seen it with the international London games. The Chargers might have a following and would have better attendance there.
The problem is where London, England is located is 5 hours ahead of New York and for a West Coast team such as the Rams, the time difference is 8 hours. Those might be early kickoffs in the United States at 9:30 Eastern Time, 4 hours earlier then a normal Sunday kickoff. The NFL would need to realign the divisions by geography which means franchises closest to London will be in that division and create new rivalries for every team. In this hypothetical scenario for the Chargers, their division could include the Buffalo Bills, New York Jets and the Baltimore Ravens since they are nearest to London.
Then there is the jet lag. It takes a few days for a team to travel there and adjust to the time. It wouldn’t be a normal week. For the Chargers to travel for a road game, that would be difficult for the same reasons but the other way. The NFL knows London is a place for the sport to grow internationally. However, it is not a place to put a team permanently because there are too many issues to sort out. Hopefully the Chargers stay in L.A. for years to come and the NFL keeps the international series in London the way it is.
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