The Chargers’ new home at StubHub Center will be best place to watch an NFL game

From 1961 to 1966, the San Diego Chargers played at Balboa Stadium, a relic built in 1914 that had a seating capacity of 34,000 for football. The now-Los Angeles Chargers will play for the next three seasons in a stadium even smaller in an era of 80,000-seat megaplexes.

When the Chargers host the Miami Dolphins in Week 2 at StubHub Center in suburban Carson on Sept. 17, the place will be filled to capacity — 27,000 seats, about 50% fewer seats than the next smallest NFL stadium, the Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum.

Playing at such a small stadium may have been the Chargers’ only option, but the result will be the best fan experience in the league. In no other stadium will all fans be as close to the field — “NFL 3-D,” as one ex-Charger said. Fewer people also means shorter concession lines and less of a hassle parking.

This is not a column supporting the Chargers’ move from San Diego, where they played for 56 seasons and had a dedicated fan base. The move sucks and having lived in L.A. for 30 years I can tell you that basically no one here cares about having the Chargers. They’ll start behind the Lakers, Dodgers, USC football, UCLA basketball, Clippers, Angels, Rams and maybe the Kings in fan interest.

But for fans who want a close-up NFL experience, StubHub will be hard to beat.

The Chargers didn’t have a whole lot of options. The L.A. Coliseum already has USC on Saturdays and the Rams on Sundays. The Rose Bowl, which seats 100,000, said no to having an NFL tenant two years before the Chargers announced their move. Dodger Stadium and Angel Stadium weren’t really viable.

StubHub Center was the choice almost by default, but the team is spinning the news as a positive. “Is that bad?” team President and CEO Dean Spanos told Peter King of MMQB when asked about the small capacity. “Is it bad that every seat is sold, and the fan experience is positive? How is that bad? You may start to see the downsizing of stadiums in sports anyway.”

All 27,000 seats and 46 luxury suites have been sold for 2017. And the seats aren’t cheap – the $192 average ticket price is the highest in the league. None of this is a surprise.

The L.A.-Orange County metro area has 12 million people, so 95% of the public might not care about the Chargers, but it doesn’t take many to fill 27,000 seats. Take into account fans of visiting teams who want to see their teams live and sellouts are pretty much guaranteed for the three seasons the Chargers will be playing at the StubHub Center. (The Chargers’ first preseason game on Aug. 13 drew only 21,000, but no-shows in preseason are pretty much the norm at NFL stadiums.)

Even a game between two bad NFL teams late in the season easily gets more than 27,000 fans. Last Christmas Eve’s dog between the 5-9 Chargers and 0-14 Browns drew 57,000 in Cleveland. There’s no doubt that the Chargers will play to sellouts each week, even if a good portion of the fans are rooting for the other team.

On StubHub.com, the cheapest Philadelphia Eagles at Chargers ticket right now is $231. For the Oakland Raiders game on New Year’s Eve, it’s $280. In comparison, a December visit from the Browns is a steal — $92 for the cheapest seats.

I have been to StubHub Center to see the L.A. Galaxy and the stadium has an intimate feel, bringing you close to the action. There will be some seats erected in an upgrade done for the Chargers, but otherwise the configuration will stay the same as for soccer. Some seats will make a fan feel they can listen in to the huddle.

“There’s also a section that sits directly on the field, a safe distance behind the players and down closer to the goal line,” Sam Farmer of the Los Angeles Times writes. “Whereas other stadiums have ground-level suites, these might be the league’s only on-field seats.”

These on-field seats cost $7,000 for a season ticket. If Philip Rivers throws a game-deciding, soul-crushing late-game pick six, a fan in those seats will have every F-bomb heard by Rivers. Even the “worst” seat in the house is still a lot closer than you get at other NFL stadiums. As the L.A. Times notes, “the elevation of the seats in the last row of StubHub Center is lower than the first row of luxury-suite seats in most NFL stadiums.”

Early reviews show that the Chargers players see the upside of such a small stadium. Rivers pronounced the venue “awesome,” adding, “There’s no bad seat in the house. Everybody’s going to have a great seat and be up close to the action.” Defensive end Melvin Ingram agreed, saying, “The atmosphere is amazing. Everybody’s all close. It’s just a warm feeling, and I like that feeling. I love this place.”

Of course, the players’ sentiments might change if the Chargers keep losing (9-23 the last two seasons). Then the crowd will be either hostile fans of the opposing team or Chargers fans who have turned hostile. In that case, intimate will not be a positive.

Fewer fans also means much less waiting in line for concessions or restrooms. That’s always a hassle at a large stadium, having to time a bathroom, food or beer run. It will be easier at StubHub Center. For example, Katie Pandolfo, StubHub’s general manager, said that while most NFL stadiums have a ratio of about 120 fans to each concession stand, “we tried to get even lower than that. We’re at 112 to one.”

The Rams have recognized the perils of too many fans, especially since they play in the aging Coliseum. The team will sell only 70,000 tickets for games this year, down 10,000 from 2016. Shorter lines and a better fan experience were the reasons cited for the move.

Despite what Spanos said about sports stadiums downsizing, there’s no way NFL teams want to play in 27,000-seat stadiums; too much revenue is being left on the table, even if ticket prices are high. Fewer fans means less money made on parking, concessions and merchandise. In 2020, the Chargers will move into the new stadium they will share with the Rams and the capacity there will be 70,000.

The Chargers are playing at a tiny stadium out of necessity, but this will turn out to be a plus for fans.