Small crowd awaits big game for Broncos
The biggest crowds cheering on Von Miller came during the pass rusher’s college days at Texas A&M.
Kyle Field, the home of the Aggies, holds more than 100,000 fans. Miller graduated to more palatial football stadiums in the NFL when he was drafted by the Broncos in 2011.
But Miller has always had a soft spot in his heart for the sport’s relatively more intimate venues, like the ones he played in during high school in Texas. It’s why he’s among the Broncos who are looking forward to visiting the StubHub Center in Carson, Calif., the temporary home of the Los Angeles Chargers.
The Chargers will move into a new $2.6 billion stadium with the Los Angeles Rams, a project that is targeting the 2020 season as a completion date. For now, the Chargers are playing their home games at the home of the L.A. Galaxy of Major League Soccer, a venue that holds only 27,000 fans.
“You get so used to playing in these stadiums — like the Cowboys’ (AT&T Stadium) and just really amazing stadiums — that when you really humble it down to the sport, it’s good to switch it up like that,” Miller said.
The StubHub Center has hardly provided a home-field advantage for the Chargers, who are 0-3 there this season and 2-1 on the road. After the Chargers lost to Philadelphia at home on Oct. 1, dropping their record to 0-4, quarterback Philip Rivers expressed some frustration with a stadium that seemed to produce more noise for the visiting team.
“I don’t think, in a lot of ways, it compares to other teams having three home games,” Rivers told reporters. “Yeah, it’s tough.”
Added running back Melvin Gordon: “It’s sad when you’re home and it feels like away.”
Broncos fans have always shown up well to the team’s road games against the Chargers, which were played in San Diego from 1961 to 2016.
“It is absolutely the best Broncos party outside of Denver,” said Paul Marinaccio, who organizes a massive annual tailgate party for Broncos fans at Chargers home games. “The only way to really describe it if you’ve never been is the feeling you get the night before Christmas.”
But the StubHub Center has presented logistical problems for fans, primarily those related to space. Marinaccio said his tailgate, which comprises Broncos fan groups from across California, can’t be held at the stadium because there simply isn’t enough room. Instead, they’ll be hosting it at a nearby brewery.
As for people in the seats, Marinaccio said some Broncos fans in the area purchased Chargers season tickets just so they could guarantee one of the fairly limited seats inside the StubHub Center for Sunday’s AFC West game. He insists there will be a lot of orange in the crowd come Sunday afternoon.
“Away games are tough because of the home crowd,” Broncos coach Vance Joseph said. “If we’ve got a big crowd there, it won’t feel like an away game, surely. That always helps.”
While the small stadium will present a unique environment, the Broncos insist it won’t be something they are paying attention to once the game begins.
“It’s football. We come out here and practice against no fans during the season,” running back C.J. Anderson said. “It doesn’t matter. If you put the ball down in between the lines, go play.”