The Chargers are averaging "just under" 56,000 fans per game so far this season at Qualcomm Stadium, "about 11,000 less than a year ago," according to Nick Canepa of the SAN DIEGO UNION-TRIBUNE. One crowd "was just over 60,000," while two were around 52,000. The Chargers' figure of filling 78.3% of capacity is "easily the lowest" in the NFL. Canepa writes there are several reasons for the drop, one being that Qualcomm Stadium "stinks" and the "game-day experience is terrible for something hardly cheap." The team, which is last in the AFC West with a 4-6 record, is "not good," and the "out-of-division home schedule is awful." Fans also "don't trust" the Spanos family, which owns the Chargers. Team Chair Dean Spanos "comes off as aloof and uncaring" about the fans. Blaming him "for the stadium situation is stupid," as he rents from the city and "did not turn Qualcomm into a slum." However, Spanos can be blamed "for how he and his people working on a new stadium mistreated the city and the fan base" last year. After the Chargers' bid to move to L.A. was denied, Spanos "went to work on Measure C to get a new downtown stadium/convention center expansion done." Canepa: "It was a wonderful idea. He got out and tried to help sell it. But people didn't forget 2015. ... It's very possible his borrish 2015 overwhelmed his cordial 2016" (SAN DIEGO UNION-TRIBUNE, 11/22).
RAMS KEEPING TALKS OPEN: Rams Exec VP/Football Operations & COO Kevin Demoff on Sunday indicated that talks between the Rams and Chargers since the stadium-convention center proposal was voted down earlier this month "have been similar in nature to talks before Measure C’s defeat." Demoff: "We've had ongoing conversations with the Chargers since January to make sure they feel comfortable with their option to join us at Hollywood Park. We have no insight into their decision-making process but we want to make sure they feel welcome in Inglewood should they believe that to be in their best interest." In San Diego, Kevin Acee noted Demoff "reiterated the framework of the deal between the Rams and Chargers, in which the Chargers would be revenue-sharing tenants of the Rams, has been in place since January" (SANDIEGOUNIONTRIBUNE.com, 11/20). Meanwhile, Bleacher Report's Jason Cole reported if the Chargers end up moving to L.A., their "likely interim home would be a retrofitted StubHub Center in Carson" (TWITTER.com, 11/20).
