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Philip Rivers on Pro Raiders Crowd at Chargers' Stadium: 'It's Disheartening'

Scott Polacek@@ScottPolacekFeatured ColumnistDecember 23, 2019

Los Angeles Chargers quarterback Philip Rivers speaks during a news conference after an NFL football game Oakland Raiders Sunday, Dec. 22, 2019, in Carson, Calif. The Raiders won 24-17. (AP Photo/Kelvin Kuo)
Kelvin Kuo/Associated Press

Los Angeles Chargers quarterback Philip Rivers didn't sound too disappointed to be leaving Dignity Health Sports Park following Sunday's 24-17 loss to the Oakland Raiders.

"We definitely have gotten used to it," Rivers said of visiting fans taking over the small stadium, per Marty Caswell of XTRA1360. "It's tough...but being someone that remembers what it used to be like in home games, it's pretty bad. It's disheartening."

Oakland fans made their presence known during the victory, making plenty of noise when Rivers and the Chargers offense was on the field.

Gilbert Manzano of the Orange County Register explained Dignity Health Sports Park is the only stadium in the NFL with less than 30,000 seats, and Chargers fans have taken advantage of the unbalanced supply and demand curves by selling their seats to visitors on the secondary market for increased prices.

The result has been three years of the Chargers playing what seems like road games on their home turf, but that could change when they move to the larger SoFi Stadium in Inglewood next season.

"I'm pretty excited for the new stadium to open up," Chargers right guard Michael Schofield III said of the move, per Manzano. "That's one way to say it. It's just been a very unique three seasons. Look at the game last week (against the Minnesota Vikings), 90 percent purple, maybe. That's tough. Hopefully when we go to the new stadium it's a lot better. Hopefully we have a decent fanbase, a decent following."

Winning would help draw more home fans as well seeing as how the Chargers fell to 5-10 with the loss, but Rivers was missing the old fans in San Diego on Sunday.