Jim Rome: USC fans ‘will pick beach over football every single time’

A quiet Week 0 of the college football season led the paltry attendance at USC”s home opener at the Coliseum to become a national storyline, but lifelong Angeleno Jim Rome wasn’t surprised whatsoever.

Despite the Trojans’ athletic department issuing a strange statement addressing the weak showing, Rome said the situation was typical L.A. sports fan behavior.

“If it’s a million degrees outside and USC is opening against San Jose State, and the team has been pretty much a** the last couple of years, they will pick beach over football every single time,” he said on The Jim Rome Show.

“Until USC gives them a reason to go back to the Coliseum, they won’t. But I assure you, as soon as the Trojans do anything worth showing up for, people will show up once again. Because that’s what an L.A. fan does. They go where the best party is.”

Lifelong So Cal here. There’s a good reason you’ve never heard me say LA is a great sports town… pic.twitter.com/cvDSWJfCbG

— Jim Rome (@jimrome) August 31, 2026

The temperature at kickoff on Saturday was around 93 degrees, and USC was a nearly 40-point favorite over San Jose State. While the Trojans are projected by some to be a College Football Playoff team this season, the Lincoln Riley era in SoCal has been relatively disappointing. Not enough fans are tuned in to fill out the cavernous Coliseum, which seats nearly 80,000.

While some narratives about L.A. sports teams are overblown and people love to mock the coastal elite sports fan bases, Jim Rome agreed wholeheartedly with the online pile-on. The longtime L.A. radio host called the city “the best town of front-runners, ever.”

“For once, the internet got it right. I agree with the internet … because it’s my take. It’s always been my take,” he said. “This might not be a traditional sports town, but it’s still an amazing town. It’s the best town of front-runners, ever. They will always go where the best party is, where the best team is, period. This is how it’s always worked. It’s freaking Hollywood, wake up.”

Beyond the memes and the PR clean-up stemming from the tough scene in L.A. over the weekend, the broader revelations about the SoCal market help explain why Lincoln Riley has had a more difficult time at USC than he did in Norman.