Why Los Angeles isn’t a “good” Sports City
When an athlete leaves their city, fans usually react in one of the following ways: angrily douse their jerseys with gasoline and toss it into the fire pits, post many aggressive tweets (usually consisting of “you were never good” or “we don’t need you anyway”), or try and remind the player that they called their city “home” years ago while creating some sort of sob story about how their move drastically affects their life. Every fan has experienced it, and you’d be surprised how quickly they forget about it.
LeBron James’ departure from Cleveland last summer was different. It is one thing to lose a franchise player; but how could anyone prepare for the loss of their captain, their leader, their city’s unifying influence. In short: they can’t. LeBron’s move not only broke the hearts of thousands of Ohio natives but also impacted their economy drastically. Jobs were lost due to the significant drop in attendance, performance, and business profits. Many fans, though, were more concerned with the loss of their King than the loss of their jobs. Instead of burning his jersey or posting nasty comments on his Instagram, people in Cleveland wrote extensive, heartfelt letters to James thanking him for four years of Finals appearances and all that he has contributed to the city. Cleveland loved LeBron. Cleveland still loves LeBron.
As a sports fan growing up in Los Angeles, I’m afraid that I can’t say the same about the City of Angels. No fanbase in L.A. will ever have a player’s departure significantly impact their economy or send the whole city into mourning. Why? Because the average fan has too many options, and if their star player leaves, the fans can just jump onto the bandwagon of another LA sports teams. Los Angeles has the Lakers, Clippers, Rams, Chargers, Dodgers, Kings, Sparks, Galaxy, Angels — and the list goes on. Cleveland? They only have the Browns, Indians and Cavaliers — two of which are struggling to win a game.
Los Angeles is a terrible sports town. And no, I’m not saying we don’t have great fans. There are thousands of die-hard fans in this city and I’m not suggesting that any of them are less powerful than any other city’s fans. That being said, one of the biggest problems with Los Angeles is that there are too many teams. This isn’t the city’s fault; in fact, it makes perfect sense why they want to bring in more teams. It increases revenue, draws attention to certain areas, and creates new jobs and opportunities for our ever growing population. But that’s simply the problem: L.A. is way too big to ever be considered a good sports town.
The teams in Los Angeles are so spread out that it could take hours to get from one stadium to another. For that same reason, Staples Center was created. As the home of the Lakers, Clippers, and Kings, Staples Center had the intention to bring fans together to watch some of L.A.’s top teams compete. But in my opinion, it has done the opposite. Tension between Lakers and Clippers fans have actually separated the fans instead of uniting them under one common team. The same can be said in the NFL and MLB, with the Chargers, Rams, Angels and Dodgers all competing for the #1 spot in Los Angeles. No team can carry all of the L.A. fans with them like LeBron did with Cleveland. Nobody can seem to unite under one team.
The fact that Los Angeles is also the center of the entertainment business doesn’t help either. The tickets to games are overwhelmingly expensive and the front row seats in games, which should be occupied with L.A.’s most enthusiastic fans, are instead bought by wealthy celebrities who merely want to promote their image. There are so many distractions in Los Angeles, from the beach to Hollywood to countless museums and shops. If fans aren’t entertained by their sports teams, they can turn to these outlets to entertain them. You can’t do that in Cleveland. The industry also provides the athletes with an outlet after sports to build their entertainment brand. This causes the athletes to be less focused on the game itself and more concerned with their own personal promotion in the movie industry. LeBron said it himself: his decision is bigger than basketball, and he sees a future in Hollywood.
LeBron will never have the impact on L.A. that he did on Cleveland.
Now I know what you might be thinking: What about the Rams?”At 10–1, the Rams are breaking records and consistently selling out the Coliseum. I see that. But here’s the issue: although Rams fans may be unified under one football team, many of them cannot agree when it comes to other sports. All of the sudden there is one Rams fan who likes the Lakers and Dodgers, another who supports the Clippers and Angels, and a third who likes the Lakers and Angels. The combinations are endless.
And while the Rams are building a strong fanbase in their third season in L.A., the Chargers, who moved one year later, are struggling to draw any attention in Carson. At 7–3, the Chargers are a top team in the AFC, yet they fail to draw 15,000 fans in their small stadium every Sunday. The result is embarrassing: the opponent’s fans often outweigh the Chargers’ fans, and every “home” game essentially becomes a road game. There simply aren’t enough sports fans to support all of these teams.
When it boils down to it, Los Angeles is too big and plagued with too many distractions to ever establish itself as a “good” sports city. By no means am I bashing the city for how it is; I love this city. This city just needs to unify together under one franchise, and until then, it’ll still be known as solely the entertainment capital of the world.
