Temple Signs Five-Year Extension to Play at Lincoln Financial Field
Reported by the Temple News and Philadelphia Inquirer.
The new deal places the on-campus stadium idea on the backburner until at least 2024, when this new five-year deal expires.
The university would not comment on how much it will pay per year to lease the Linc, but previous reports suggested it could be as high as $3 million. Temple paid $1 million a year in previous years. The contract also includes an additional option to extend the contract to five more seasons after 2024, according to the release.
There were plans for a 35,000 seat on-campus stadium to be built along 15th street at a cost of $130 million. This was opposed by neighborhood residents and the university would need City Council permission to go this route anyway, which has not been given.
Temple has rented Lincoln Financial Field since 2003, splitting time at Veterans Stadium and Franklin Field prior to the Linc’s construction. They managed to finally sell out the stadium in 2015, the pair of games against Penn State and Notre Dame during the season that also saw College Gameday come to Independence Mall.
So here we are, a few years later, with another half-decade of playing in a rented NFL stadium just around the corner.
