Chargers catch San Diego strays as Petco Park explodes for Padres (and it's unfair)

While the Athletics are currently under scrutiny for relocating from Oakland to Las Vegas, the San Diego Padres have put a city that also lost its football team on their back.

The LA Chargers infamously relocated from San Diego to Los Angeles in 2017 and eventually moved into SoFi Stadium with the also-relocated Los Angeles Rams in 2020. There were a lot of hard feelings from fans in San Diego, with many refusing to root for the Chargers now that they are up the I-5.

Many of those fans who have turned on the Chargers are fans of the Padres, who just defeated the Atlanta Braves in the National League Wild Card Round to advance and face the despised Los Angeles Dodgers. With Petco Park showing up and showing out for the hometown Padres, the Chargers have caught several strays from dedicated San Diegans.

Chargers cannot escape San Diego criticism thanks to the Padres

San Diegans have every right to be upset with the Chargers, root against the Chargers, and continue to poke fun at the Chargers. It is never easy losing a sports team, especially losing a sports team to a city that might be close in location but has a sour place in sports fans' hearts.

Los Angeles already took the Clippers from San Diego and until recently, the Dodgers were always the big bad bully for Padres fans. Despite its proximity to San Diego, Los Angeles may have been the worst possible city for the Chargers to move to. It still would have been upsetting, but maybe it would have been an easier pill to swallow if the Chargers moved to Las Vegas instead.

As beloved as the Chargers were in San Diego, though, the team never pulled in the same kind of passionate crowds the Padres are currently pulling in. San Diegans argue that all the Chargers needed to do was field a winning team and they would have shown up. That was not always the case.

The Chargers ranked 20th (out of the 28 teams with attendance data) in home attendance in 2006, which wasn't just the best season in team history, but was the most exciting as well. Not only did the Chargers go 14-2, but LaDainian Tomlinson broke the all-time touchdown record en route to being named the NFL MVP.

Even more damning than ranking 20th in attendance was how much of Qualcomm Stadium the team was able to fill. The Chargers averaged 93.1% capacity that season. As great as that might seem on paper, the Bolts ranked 26th (again, out of 28 teams) in the league.

Did the Chargers get an attendance bump in 2007 because of the exceptional 2006 season and the fact they were still a playoff team? Not at all. The Chargers averaged 91.9% of capacity, which ranked dead last among the 28 teams with attendance data.

San Diego was not showing up as frequently for the Chargers. This only got worse as time went on and the success of the mid-2010s started to fade. The Chargers missed the playoffs in 2012 and filled 84.1% of Qualcomm Stadium, good for 30th out of 32 teams. A playoff run in 2013 didn't change much, as the Chargers filled 87.2% of Qualcomm, good for 29th.

There are a lot of compounding variables around this decline than just team success but just saying that a competitive team would have created the same atmosphere is not true.

And for the fans who still root for the Chargers, moving to Los Angeles has been a great thing as it has opened so many doors. The franchise value has more than tripled since 2015 and while that may not seem important to the average fan, it does make a difference.

The Chargers may not have been able to open a new state-of-the-art training facility worth a quarter of a billion dollars, may not have been able to pay up for Jim Harbaugh, and also may not have been able to offer Justin Herbert one of the largest contracts in the NFL.

Moving to Los Angeles has had a massive positive impact on the team's financials. Having the city of Los Angeles attached to the team name elevates the brand. Just ask the Halos, who no longer even advertise the fact they are in Anaheim and are simply the "Los Angeles Angels".

The more money the Chargers have the more ownership can invest in the team, the facilities and the coaching staff. From a pure winning perspective, more resources are available in Los Angeles than in San Diego.

Personal feelings do not change that reality.

The pain the Chargers caused many fans by moving to Los Angeles is real, and in a perfect world, Dean Spanos would have forked over the money to build a new stadium himself. Or, in an even more perfect world for some fans, Spanos would have sold the team to someone richer, allowing the Chargers to stay in San Diego with all of the same monetary advantages.

But that is not what happened; this business-oriented decision drove many fans away from the football team they fell in love with and was undoubtedly a bad thing for those in San Diego.

Painting the Chargers' move to Los Angeles as bad for the team itself is disingenuous. As great and exciting as the Padres are right now, the true test will be how the fanbase shows up in five years if the team is no longer in playoff contention.

Unfortunately, Chargers fans did not show up enough after the team's mid-2000s boom to convince Spanos to stay.