StubHub Center: It’s the Galaxy’s world, Chargers will just play in it
Although the Chargers will call the StubHub Center home the next two seasons, Major League Soccer’s Galaxy will remain the stadium’s main tenant.
“The Galaxy is the main priority for StubHub Center,” said Brendan Hannan, the director of communication for the facility. “The Chargers’ NFL schedule will be built around the Galaxy schedule. The same will happen in terms of 2018.”
The MLS schedule was to be released Thursday afternoon. Last season the team played few Sunday home games.
The Galaxy will be one of seven MLS teams to share its stadium with a professional football team next season although the StubHub Center is one of only two with a grass field; the other is BMO Field in Toronto.
The facility owned and managed by entertainment giant AEG, which also owns the Galaxy, has played host to CIF football playoff games as well as events such as the CrossFit Games, the NFLPA Collegiate Bowl and ESPN’s X Games. Because of the damage done to the turf by those events, the grass at StubHub has been frequently replaced.
Hannan said the condition of the playing surface will be closely monitored when the Chargers begin playing there this summer, more than halfway through the MLS season.
“It will be StubHub Center and AEG and the Galaxy’s primary concerns to make sure that this remains the best field in Major League Soccer,” he said. “In regards to football lines, we don’t believe that there will be football lines for Galaxy games.”
Capacity for StubHub Center soccer games is listed at 27,000. Hannan said that capacity will be expanded to 30,000 for the Chargers, as it was for previous MLS Cup finals. The Galaxy hasn’t decided if it will make the extra seating available for regular-season MLS matches.
Scheduling conflicts could arise in November and December should the Galaxy reach the postseason, as it has done in each of the last eight seasons. The Galaxy would play as many as four postseason games at the StubHub Center and since home-field advantage in the MLS playoffs is determined by teams’ regular-season record, when – or if – those games will be played in Carson may not be determined until 72 hours before game time.
The Seattle Sounders had their playoff schedule interrupted last year when a home date conflicted with the regular-season game of the Seattle Seahawks, the Sounders’ roommates at CenturyLink Field.
“Those [dates] will be held as a priority for the Galaxy,” Hannan said.
Twitter: kbaxter11
