The San Francisco 49ers Thursday night game against the Los Angeles Rams kicked off in front of a nearly empty stadium.

Los Angeles Times reporter Lindsey Thiry tweeted a photo at the time of kickoff, which showed thousands of open seats. In fact, most sections in the photo have more empty seats than fans.

Thursday night football. Time for kickoff. pic.twitter.com/SinMLDH6AD — Lindsey Thiry (@LindseyThiry) September 22, 2017

WATCH AERIAL FOOTAGE OF THE EMPTY STADIUM:



ESPN’s Darren Rovell reported that 63,500 tickets had been sold for the game, but of course, simply selling a ticket doesn’t mean the buyer will actually show up to the game.

It’s hard to believe there are more than 30,000 people in the stadium, judging from the photos.

The 49ers sold 63,500 tickets to this game. But 5:30 local start, being 0-2, vs a week opponent gives you this crowd ( by @colinresch) pic.twitter.com/eJyCSSQodV — Darren Rovell (@darrenrovell) September 22, 2017

Even close to halftime, the stadium was not close to being full.

From my vantage point 3 minutes to go 2ND quarter. #49ers vs #Rams pic.twitter.com/pYbJPFNV6q — Colin Resch (@colinresch) September 22, 2017

[dcquiz]

This is not a great look for the NFL. TV ratings are already on the decline, and now people aren’t even going to the games.

The NFL is the crown jewel of American sports. It can’t be overstated how awful the optics of an empty stadium for a primetime game is.

NFL management needs to isolate the problem and fix it before things continue to spiral downward.

WATCH:

Follow David on Twitter