If NFL fans in Los Angeles are excited about the Rams this year, they have a funny way of showing it. The L.A. Coliseum looked nearly empty for the team's home opener against the Colts on Sunday, and let's just say that everyone watching at home seemed to notice.
When the game kicked off, former Colts punter Pat McAfee was one of the first people to point out how empty the stadium looked.
👀 ain't nobody there pic.twitter.com/1G7z69S9wn
— Pat McAfee (@PatMcAfeeShow) September 10, 2017
Glad to see the Rams fans taking part in the "Dress as a seat" promotion. Looks really cool. pic.twitter.com/CdmmSydnIq
— VikingsGraphics (@VikingsGraphics) September 10, 2017
To be fair, you can sometimes get some weird angles on television, so maybe it wasn't that empty, right?
Wrong.
Here's a few pictures taken from inside the stadium, and they seem to paint an even uglier picture.
Here's a shot of the end zone.
@EmptySeatsPics NFL fever in Los Angeles.... catch it! pic.twitter.com/HeF1mbBdvk
— Scott B. (@EPLSB) September 10, 2017
Here's a look at the entire stadium.
Rams announce 60,128 paid attendance. Crowd more sparse than that, but it'll change if they keep playing like this. pic.twitter.com/h8GshWiDiK
— Alden Gonzalez (@Alden_Gonzalez) September 10, 2017
Not even the lure of a $6 ticket was enough to get Rams fans to the game. That's right, all you needed was six dollars to attend Sunday's game, and even that wasn't enough to get fans through the doors.
The Rams announced that 60,128 tickets were "distributed" for the game. However, according to at least one reporter's estimate, at least 12,000 of those tickets went unused.
60,128 tickets distributed for today's #Rams game. Looked like about 48,000 attended
— Vincent Bonsignore (@DailyNewsVinny) September 10, 2017
The capacity at the coliseum is roughly 93,000, so when only 48,000 fans show up, it definitely doesn't look good on TV and it definitely doesn't look good for the Rams. The bad part for the Rams is that they actually planned to lower capacity to 70,000 seats this year, but they couldn't even sell out that number.
The good news for the Rams is that they whitewashed the Colts 46-9 on Sunday, and there's good chance that fans will start showing up if they keep winning. The bad news for the Rams is that if they don't keep winning, they might be playing in front of five people by the time their home finale against the 49ers rolls around in December.