Monday Night Football At SoFi Stadium In Los Angeles Sounds A Lot Like A Dallas Cowboys Home Game
OK, maybe the headline is a little misleading. It's not quite THAT bad. But, it's clear that there are more Dallas Cowboys fans inside SoFi Stadium than Los Angeles Chargers fans for Monday Night Football.
That doesn't surprise anyone, of course, as the Chargers have one of the worst home-field "advantages" in the entire NFL. It gets a lot worse when the other Los Angeles team faces an opponent with a huge national fanbase. The Dallas Cowboys certainly qualify in that category.
The Chargers got on the board first with a Justin Herbert pass to Keenan Allen to give Los Angeles a 7-0 lead. Again, it's not quite a Cowboys home game in that the crowd cheered loudly for Allen's touchdown catch.
Not bad, but not the reaction you'd expect for a home team on Monday Night Football. Imagine hearing that reaction in Pittsburgh, Philadelphia or Kansas City for a home team touchdown. They wouldn't tolerate that.
But, what they really wouldn't tolerate is the reaction that the road team got for its first touchdown. The Dallas Cowboys elected to go for a fourth-down-and-1 from the Los Angeles 18-yard line. Not only did Dallas pick up the first down, but quarterback Dak Prescott rumbled into the endzone for a score.
Tell me there aren't more Cowboys fans in the crowd than Chargers fans after hearing this reaction:
Not only is Los Angeles filled with transplants from all over the United States, but it's not exactly a football town.
Plus, they already have the Rams, who were there long before the Chargers and returned one year before they did, as well. Additionally, there are a lot of Raiders fans from their time in L.A. in the 1980s and 90s.
Not only that, but a lot of the Los Angelenos in the crowd are probably only there to take pictures for Instagram and say they were in attendance for an event like Monday Night Football.
Add it all up and you get a rather indifferent home crowd. Unless, of course, a team like the Cowboys, Steelers or Packers come to town.
Then, the fans come out in droves. Just not the right ones for the home team.