City of Philadelphia Changes Direction, Fans not Yet Ruled Out

On Tuesday, Philadelphia officials seemed to slam the door on the possibility of fans attending games at the Linc this season but changed their tune slightly on Wednesday

In a reversal of field akin to a move one might see from Eagles running back Miles Sanders, the City of Philadelphia basically issued a “never mind” regarding fans being able to attend Eagles game at Lincoln Financial Field this fall.

The city issued a statement on Wednesday to clarify Tuesday’s confusion over whether or not the Eagles would be allowed to have fans. The Tuesday release seemed to indicate that fans would not be allowed to games.

A day later, the city released this:

“The City of Philadelphia’s event moratorium announced (Tuesday) does not apply to stadiums or other private property. It covers only events that require City permits and take place on public property.

So, Philadelphia saying there is a chance, and a good thing, too, since NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy told SI.com EagleMaven on Wednesday that whether or not a city is allowed fans or not, it “is not a competitive equity consideration.”

Translation: tough luck if one NFL city does not allow fans while another one is able to do. Each state has its own guidelines and will depend on what they decide about fans attending games or not.

Philadelphia’s murky messaging on Tuesday happened when outgoing City Managing Director Brian Abernathy slammed the door on fans when he said, “The Eagles are still going to be allowed to play, although without crowds. … We have been in communication with the Eagles. We have told them our expectations are that they don’t have fans.”

Wednesday’s release, however, went on to say, “Specifically, with regards to the 2020 NFL season, the Eagles and the City of Philadelphia remain in close communication. Both entities are committed to the health and safety of the players, employees, fans, and community. The City and the Eagles have been working together during this time and will continue to do so. The Eagles have been planning for a variety of scenarios in accordance with League protocols, as well as local and state guidelines.”

The statement added that Philadelphia is currently in the “modified” Green Phase of reopening from the COVID-19 pandemic.

While the city prohibits outdoor events involving more than 50 people, the release said, “these restrictions do apply to Lincoln Financial Field. However, this is a fluid situation, and this policy is under constant review. Discussions between the City and the Eagles are ongoing.”

As part of those discussions, there is no doubt talk about how to safely allow perhaps as many as 25,000 fans to attend, with every other row or third row and every other second, third or more seats marked as off-limits.

That does not solve all the obstacles and maybe they prove just too many to overcome and fans will be off-limits, anyway, but at least the city isn’t completely shutting down the option at this point, more than two months from the Eagles hosting their first game at the Linc on Sept. 20.

The Eagles have already given their season ticket holder the option of opting out of the 2020 season without penalty.

The email they sent said: “We are anticipating certain seating areas to be unavailable. As many teams have also communicated in recent weeks, there is a chance we will have to significantly reduce the stadium’s seating capacity…

“We understand that, even with safety measures in place, you may have concerns about attending games in person. As such, we would like to offer you the option to defer your Season Tickets for the 2020 seasons. If you choose this option, we will pause your account for 2020 and resume your account in 2021 with the same seat locations you would have had in 2020.”

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