Kansas City Chiefs fans take over Chargers stadium as trend from last season continues

AP Photo/Jae C. Hong

The Chargers are two years into their move to Los Angeles, but opposing fans are still making their stadium a home away from home.

• The Chargers played the Chiefs in Los Angeles in both teams' first game of the 2018 NFL season.
• While it was nominally a home game for the Chargers, Chiefs fans took over the StubHub Center and essentially robbed Los Angeles of its home field advantage.
• The Chargers' tendency to have its stadium overrun by opposing fans is beginning to become a trend.

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The Los Angeles Chargers hosted the Kansas City Chiefs in their first game of the season on Sunday, but one look through the crowd might have left unfamiliar fans questioning their surroundings.

Chiefs fans effectively took over the Los Angeles stadium, making the game feel much closer to a Kansas City home game than what the Chargers would have preferred.

The traveling supporters would leave the stadium happy, with the Chiefs pulling off a 38-28 win over Los Angeles.

Unfortunately for the Chargers, this has become something of a trend for the team since moving to Los Angeles last season. Despite playing in a converted soccer stadium with a capacity of just 27,000, the Chargers have struggled to sell tickets - averaging just 25,335 per game last season. When the Chargers do sell tickets, too often they seem to go to opposing fans, as was made clear when Eagles fans took over the StubHub Center in 2017.

If the Chargers are going to be able to establish any sort of home-field advantage for the 2018 season, they'll have to do it soon - their next two home games are against the Los Angeles Rams and Oakland Raiders, two teams whose fans would not have to travel far to once again take over enemy territory.