Southern California. A historic and significant region when it comes to discussing American Football. The region has produced not only some of the top talent in the NFL but also are home to some of the top high school, and college football teams in America. High schools such as Notre Dame in Sherman Oaks, Orange Lutheran, and St. John Bosco are considered some of the best in the nation, while NFL players such as De’Anthony Thomas, Richard Sherman, Donald Penn, Jurrell Casey, Clay Matthews, and Bobby Wagner all hail from the this area. Then you look at the collegiate level, and you have to look at the historic power house team that is USC, who has 11 recognized national championships, and their little brother UCLA who play in the glorious rose bowl, one of biggest stages in college football. Southern California is also a former home to the Raiders. The Rams once again call the area home as they have recently moved backed to LA along with the Chargers who left San Diego for the bright lights of Hollywood. While the Rams have had success since moving back, the fan attendance of the Chargers at Dignity Health Sports Park was well document as being some of the worst in the league. Players have even gone on to say it felt like they were playing in road games while in the 27,000-seating capacity stadium. With the Chargers moving into SoFi Stadium with the Rams in 2020, I feel that there will be a major power push for the Chargers to become LA’s hottest team.
Historically, the Rams have been considered LA’s team, with the team calling the city home from 1946 to 1994 when they left to go play in St. Louis. When the team returned in 2016, they came back to a city where a lot of people never stopped cheering for the team when they left, which made it easy for them to fill the stands of the LA Coliseum. I remember spending a spring break vacation in high school in Palm Springs, California, where I was talking with a server at the pool side bar about why he was wearing a St. Louis Rams hat. He explained that he was from LA and that a true fan does not stop supporting a team even when they get up and leave the city. I can only assume how many other Ram’s fans felt betrayed when they left, but I am positive majority of them have since been back to their games in the Coliseum. The Rams will always have lots of fans, especially in the older demographic who remembers them from their childhood, but with continued smart marketing campaigns and a promising young roster, the Chargers have the chance to take over the next generation of football fans in Southern California.
The Rams roster is still good, even after the terrible money management and a 2020 off season which saw them release most of their stars, such as Todd Gurley, Corey Littleton, Brandin Cooks, etc, however in my opinion, the Rams will probably be in 4th place of their division in 2020. With star player contracts coming up, I don’t think the Rams will be back to the Superbowl for a while, unless some dramatic changes are made quickly. On the other hand, you have the Chargers, a team that is loaded with quality young talent and will be fighting for a wild card play off spot every year. Their young core of Derwin James, Joey Bosa, and Desmond King on Defense have given their fans something to be excited about. Add 2020 first round draft picks Justin Herbert and Kenneth Murray into that mix along with proven veterans Keenan Allen, Melvin Ingram, Linval Joseph, Chris Harris Jr., Brian Bulaga, Mike Williams, and Hunter Henry, the Chargers are going to be an exciting team to watch over the next few years. When it comes to the Battle for LA and looking at team rosters, I give the nod to the Chargers.
The Chargers organization is also making smart marketing choices, and they are doing so by catering their advertisement and social media projects to the youth. In their jersey reveal video, they discuss wanting to do something “bold and fearless” and wanted to make the new jerseys loud. They did just that with vibrant yellows and their signature powder blue, not to mention their clean all navy uniforms. Flashy jerseys always appeal to the youth, and the Bolts hit the nail on the head with their new jerseys. In the video, they use memes and emojis which kids love, and this was a smart move to make them seem like the cool hot team in town. You look at their website and Instagram and they have these emoji faces plastered all over the face. That will be easy to put on merchandise products or make stickers out of that the kids will love. On the other hand, you look at the Rams and their recent marketing programs. Their new logo was considered to be terrible by most of the internet, drawing comparisons to the internet explorer logo. I don’t think it is awful, but I do think they should have made their secondary ram head logo their primary. Then you look at their new jerseys, which also got bad reviews and people suggested they even looked like the were Best Buy uniforms. I do like the Bone colored road jerseys, but the uniform design is caught in an awkward place between traditional and modern, which causes them to look awkward. In my opinion they should have stuck with something more traditional, and even kept the old Blue and Yellow home jerseys which they have been wearing since their return to LA and just updated the road ones so they were white, royal blue and yellow rather than white, navy, and gold. Unfortunately, the COVID pandemic affected the Rams uniform unveiling event, but they didn’t even make a video to hype them up as a backup precaution. They released pictures and all the waiting and excitement was for nothing. In the social media era, they seem lazy for not producing a hype video, and if the marketing team continues to lack in that aspect, they are going to have a hard time gaining new fans.
Tickets for Rams games are also crazy expensive when compared to the Chargers. In the cheapest seats of SoFi Stadium you are going to pay $1,000 for the SSL (basically a seat ownership fee) and then another $60 a seat per game on top of that. Therefore, at minimum to become a Rams season ticket holder in 2020 you are looking at prices closer to $1,500 after taxes for one seat. In comparison, for the same seats, the Chargers are only going to cost you $100 for the SSL, and then $50 a seat per game, for a total closer to $600 after taxes. Its hard to compare single game prices, as they changed from game to game in the NFL, but luckily it is a bit easier in 2020 due to both teams playing the New York Jets at home (they also both play the Patriots at home but the Rams play them in prime time which would affect prices). Currently, at the time I am writing this article, the cheapest tickets to the Rams vs Jets game on Ticketmaster are $77 a ticket, and they would be in the same area of the before mentioned season tickets. In the same section when the Chargers host the Jets, you only need to pay $59.00 a ticket. If you ask me, I would way rather pay less to see a better Chargers team play.
Overall, with a great young team, a great marketing team and program, flashy new uniforms, affordable ticket prices for all demographics in the Southern California region, and a brand new stadium that is a huge upgrade from their the tiny soccer stadium they have been playing in over the last few years, I truly think the Battle for LA’s fan base is going to start leaning towards the Chargers. It will be interesting to see who has more jerseys in the stands on August 22nd when the two face off in their week 2 pre-season game at SoFi Stadium.
