Fans of football generally love week one of the NFL season. It is a time when everyone has no losses and the slate from the previous season is wiped clean for all teams. Even though a number of teams go into the season with little or no expectations, week one still gives fans a fresh feeling and generally attend the opening games regardless.

However, not all of these stadiums were full on the opening Sunday of the NFL. The Los Angeles Rams opened their season at home against the Indianapolis Colts at Memorial Coliseum, and the stadium was not even close to being full.

The 93,000 seat stadium was not even half-full despite their apparent ticket sale attendance reading at 60,128. The number of no-shows based on approximation looking at various pans of the entire stadium puts the official in-house number around 30,000 or so which would be about a third full. Regardless it is not a great look for the NFL or the Rams after moving back to LA from St. Louis last year.

Twitter and fan reaction

People on social media did not hold back in their criticism and mocking of the Rams attendance on Sunday. From the kickoff and throughout the Rams 46-9 blowout win over the Colts, people posted all sorts of media content showing the empty coliseum. One of the most notable accounts to post is Empty Seats Galore (@EmptySeatsPics) which is an account that posts and retweets other posts about venues not being sold out.

In addition, other people used these pictures of the empty seats in LA to criticize the NFL and their policies and use it to show a perceived loss of interest in the league because of its product quality and handling of players. Lastly, posts were used to criticize Stan Kroenke for moving the Rams back to LA.

The following twitter posts will show videos or images of the Memorial Coliseum throughout the game to show how it looked from start to finish and what people were saying about it.

Future of LA attendance

The city now has two NFL teams with both the Rams and the Chargers which makes the competition even harder for both teams.

The Chargers currently play in a soccer stadium and the Rams play in the old and outdated Coliseum. The Rams had a history in Los Angeles before they initially moved to St. Louis in 1995, but that move was because crowds in the early 90s became smaller and smaller. They are also coming off a 4-12 season in 2016 and there could be a lack of interest for that reason as well.

If the Rams continue to play better, their attendance should increase, but there is skepticism that Los Angeles will really ever become a "football town". The plans for the Rams and Chargers to share a brand new stadium are in place, but according to Sports Illustrated, it will not be ready until 2020. In the end, right now the situation of two NFL teams in LA is a mess and there seems to be a good reason why NFL football was absent in the Los Angeles area for two decades. It may get better, but how much it will get better and when remains to be seen.
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