A ton of empty seats greet the Rams as they start second season in Los Angeles

Frank Schwab
·NFL writer

At least Los Angeles now has two NFL teams to not care about.

There should be some excitement for both teams in Los Angeles as this season starts. The Chargers just moved there, and every other team in professional sports history that has relocated has been greeted warmly by their new city. Not the Chargers, who didn’t come close to selling out their temporary 30,000-seat soccer stadium in Carson for the preseason.

There should be some excitement for the Rams too. Last season wasn’t very good, but new coach Sean McVay was hired and there were good results for second-year quarterback Jared Goff in the preseason. Also, fans get excited for just about any team starting a new season. And for Week 1 of just the second season for the Rams back in Los Angeles, it looked like the Coliseum was maybe half full.

There’s a good reason the NFL went 21 seasons without a team in Los Angeles.

Sure, it was hot in Los Angeles on Sunday. The Coliseum is old and not the most comfortable place to watch a game. There wasn’t a ton of excitement for a matchup against the Indianapolis Colts without Andrew Luck (though, you’d figure, a better chance to see a Rams win). The Rams didn’t exactly build up much goodwill last season by posting one of the dullest teams in recent NFL memory. That didn’t improve by letting star defensive tackle Aaron Donald’s holdout last until Saturday so he was held out of Sunday’s game.

Still. That crowd would be embarrassing for a Week 17 matchup between two four-win teams.

Maybe the attendance will pick up when the weather is less oppressive, or once the huge, fancy stadium in Inglewood is finished. But there doesn’t seem to be any real interest in either NFL team in Los Angeles. If the Rams are drawing such a poor crowd for the season opener, is it really going to get better as the season goes on?

Los Angeles Rams cheerleaders perform during the first half of the team's season opener on Sunday. (AP)
Los Angeles Rams cheerleaders perform during the first half of the team’s season opener on Sunday. (AP)

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Frank Schwab is the editor of Shutdown Corner on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at shutdown.corner@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!

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