How bad is "too bad" in LA?

[XtremeFanForever]

I think we all expected LA's attendance to lag behind, but at what point does it become a concern for the league?

Also, what has LA's TV viewership looked like? The few ratings I've seen didn't have LA in any if the top 5 markets.

[GregParks]

The fact they only dropped 2,000 from opening day, for an 0-2 team, doesn't seem too bad to me. The number they started with is probably more of a problem for most than the lack of significant drop.

I know there are a lot of people who want to move LA already, but that's a really quick way to get people to delegitimize your league if you're already talking about relocation. You've got to afford some time to build a brand. Places like Seattle and St. Louis are outliers, not the norm. If you're going to move a franchise so soon, you have to take into account the psychological effect it'll have on other cities as well - fans may not get attached because of the idea that they'll move the franchise at the first sign of trouble. It's not like the financial stability of the league hinges on LA drawing 20,000 fans every week. My guess is they can get away with a low number in LA, and maybe even planned for that scenario.

[OverlayRC]

Smaller attendance figures yesterday compared to the opener, but the crowd seemed louder and more into this game. The 3:00 p.m. kickoff (not as hot) and dominating play certainly helped add to the energy. 

We'll see how it goes -- the fans that are there are enjoying themselves and building a foundation for the team to (slowly) grow. 

[XFLGUY]

I do agree that you have to give it time to build the brand. It's too early to talk relocation for LA. I think you give them at least 2 solid years then look at the numbers and go from there. If it looks like attendance isn't going to get much beyond the 10-12k mark then you really need to start to re-evaluate that market and whether it might be better to move to an area that wants a team and will consistently show up. Plenty of other cities out there and hopefully this league doesn't anchor itself to the mentality that league survival depends on the LA market. Sometimes it's better to know when to say when then continue trying to fit a square peg into a round hole.

[steinerfhc]

The XFL isn't going to be moving teams anytime soon. The want to be in the big markets period. LA and NY for that matter. Yes the uphill is larger because they have so much going on. The reason why the Chargers are not well received is because they are looked at as not LA made while the Rams was more the homecoming. So when you put the two in the same market which is dumb for the NFL to have approved that.

LA in the XFL has to build it. They have to win over the market because they have a lot to compete against. The are dealing with TWO NBA teams, and NHL team. And football fans have two NHL teams.

Seattle is doing well because there nothing else going on right now in sports. Sports fans don't have the NBA, NHL playing. NHL is a coming yes but not right now. They have a good sports area and the XFL is the current only sports they have going.

St. Louis has the Blues yes and they are drawing sellouts every game, but there was a huge market for football here and no NFL team because the Rams situation. So the want of football was there. St. Louis is a known sports town on top of that.

[johnnyangryfuzzball]

10,000 is the figure I'd say is a bad omen for the Wildcats. Or for any other team, though in most of the cities I'd say that they'd have much higher expectations given the attendance so far.

LA's crowd looked bad yesterday: it was thin, patchy and even with about half capacity, they looked like a lot less than that. If two of the next three home games for the Wildcats drop below 10,000—it's probably time to pull the plug.

[Tank55]

It looked bad at kickoff, but filled out fine as the game went on. Hopefully the W brings people back.

At the end of the day, the XFL is a TV product. It becomes "too bad" when the crowd is crippling the broadcast. I don't think that's been close to the case in either game so far.

The stadium is such an asset -- it doesn't take much to make everything look and sound half decent. I think New York is a bigger liability than LA at this point, to be honest.

[MGB01]

LA is a weird spot, ultimately I'd rather they were in San Diego, but it's what we got so time to ride with it.

Much as I think it's better to wait until 2022 for expansion, plus the money isn't there, or more specifically would be better spent elsewhere, at the moment, it might be beneficial to help the teams in "peril" right now in the form of rivals, like the Galaxy (although they also had Cobi Jones and Jorge Campos on their early teams) had with San Jose from the start and then Chivas/LAFC (picking up Seattle and Portland along the way).

NoCal is obvious (Niners/Rams, Lakers/Kings heyday), maybe Vegas (simply cause they didn't spend all that money on the new stadium to fill <50 dates a year) or even SD itself.

Hopefully 12K, on a day that had a good Celtics/Lakers game at Staples (that was still going on at kickoff) is a bottom number and we can go from there. I'd rather have a smaller debut and rise than vice versa, the Express had a strong over 30K in the Coliseum their first game and two years later couldn't even pull 20 for Kelly/Young II.

[Regular Joe]

If LA steamrolls NY like they did DC the Vipers game will do 10-15,000 and people tune in.

By week 8-9 when they play their last two home games, if they, AND THEY SHOULD BE, are in the hunt the crowds should be slightly larger and LA Viewership up just a bit. Win & they are on solid ground.

Loved the dude on the Wildcats telling LA they love them and to keep giving them a chance from the sidelines the other day.

The whole franchise has the right attitude. Now, just win baby!!

[Metallifreak10]

As others have noted, it’s all about the tv market. SO, attendance can be pathetic and I don’t think that matters. But personally, as long as they don’t fall under 10,000, they should be good. If they walk into week 9 2-6, then it’s possible to see a crowd of 6k-7k. As long as they are in the hunt, then that shouldn’t happen.

I’m rooting for both Texas teams, but more so the Renegades. However, I’m rooting for a bit of parody in the league so at least 6 of the teams are still in it coming into week 10. So, I don’t want to see either Texas team go 9-1 or something like that. I’ll be rooting for the Vipers against DC this coming weekend as well. As long as teams are in contention, that’ll keep some teams attendances from bottoming out(LA, NY, TB).