The Los Angeles Rams take on the Los Angeles Chargers this weekend at SoFi Stadium. Before the season, this matchup was projected to be between two quality teams with playoff implications on the line in the penultimate week of the regular season. So we’re asking: are there more Rams or Chargers fans in LA?
Things haven’t played out that way though as the Rams have had a disappointing season after winning the Super Bowl, already being eliminated from playoff contention. On the other end of the spectrum, the Chargers already clinched a postseason berth with their Week 16 win so this isn’t necessarily a game they need to win either.
With the stakes being this low, the NFL decided to flex the game out of Sunday Night Football into the afternoon window in favor of the matchup between the Baltimore Ravens and Pittsburgh Steelers.
When the two L.A. teams square off though, the stakes are never really low considering city bragging rights are on the line.
These two teams are very familiar with each other considering they played in the preseason. There is also a ton of overlap on the coaching staffs as Brandon Staley was the Rams’ defensive coordinator on Sean McVay‘s staff before being hired by the Chargers. He has also brought some Rams players over to the Chargers with him with a few examples being Sebastian Joseph-Day, Morgan Fox and Gerald Everett.
Let’s get down to the truth of the matter when it comes to this matchup though…
Neither the Rams nor Chargers run L.A.
This is very tough for me to say as a Rams fan, but there isn’t one single team that owns the L.A. market. Football was away from L.A. for more than two decades, which means that fans picked different teams to root for.
There is a huge contingent of football fans in L.A. that root for out-of-town teams such as the San Francisco 49ers, Green Bay Packers, New England Patriots and Dallas Cowboys.
But everyone knows the team that L.A. supports the most due to their past years here is the Las Vegas Raiders.
I went to the Rams-Raiders game at SoFi Stadium just a few weeks ago, and again, as tough as this is for me to say, us Rams fans were outnumbered. By a lot.
Now, part of this is because the Rams are having a down season. And at the time, the Raiders still had some hope having just won three straight games. Luckily, Baker Mayfield and the Rams put those playoff hopes to bed with an incredible comeback victory. But when that happened, about 80% of the fans in the stadium went home sad (I was not one of them).
The Rams and Chargers organizations are doing what they can to capture the attention of the local fan base. The best way to do that is winning, and both teams have done that at a high level since moving to L.A., even more so than the Raiders. But it is going to take time, perhaps decades and generations, for either the Rams or Chargers to overtake the Raiders as L.A.’s favorite team.
Rams > Chargers, though
But when solely discussing the two teams that currently play in L.A. and will be squaring off this Sunday, I think it’s clear that the Rams have won over more fans since moving here than the Chargers.
It helps that they decided to make the move first. It also helps that they have played in L.A. before so there were still some remaining loyal fans. Also, it was Stan Kroenke and the Rams that built and own SoFi Stadium while Dean Spanos and the Chargers rent it out from them.
Perhaps what helps the Rams most of all though is that they won the Super Bowl less than a year ago. L.A. likes winners, and the Rams have been better at that than the Chargers so far.
The Chargers are obviously a lot better currently, and they have a franchise quarterback in Justin Herbert to build around for years to come. If you want to surpass the Rams and Raiders in L.A., then that is a good blueprint for doing it. While it is going to take time, and probably Super Bowl wins, for the Chargers to grow the local fan base, they have a prime opportunity to continue to do that this weekend by beating the Rams.
If they fail on Sunday though, and more importantly don’t have success in the playoffs, then they may set themselves back years when it comes to cultivating the L.A. fanbase.
