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Are We Not Getting a Brand to Sponsor Free SEPTA Rides During Eagles Games This Year?

By Kyle Pagan

Published: Oct 2nd, 2024 · 2:52 PM EDT

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Look at Socialism Pagan over here asking for handouts. I was thinking about this after I contemplated sleeping next to the bull at PBR Bar instead of going through with the SEPTA experience that awaited me. I told the story on my podcast after the Eagles home opener. Shameless plug:

Remember when brands used to sponsor free rides on SEPTA before/after Eagles games? What happened to that this year? I feel like this hasn’t gotten much play because Week 6 will be our second home game so maybe some brand would step over the bye week. Did someone on the sales desk at SEPTA drop the ball here? All I see on the timeline is how desperate SEPTA is for money and they’re letting ad revenue sneak by? Hit us up, SEPTA! Maybe Crossing Broad can pony up for a week because this new pay model stinks. I watched the new Apple Pay and card system just cripple folks who aren’t used to taking the subway.

In the past, Miller Lite sponsored the home opener with free rides:

#FlyEaglesFly! @MillerLite is giving away FREE @SEPTA rides on Sunday! Details: https://t.co/a6G06kSmVO pic.twitter.com/9GEwHfGUfF

— Philadelphia Eagles (@Eagles) September 9, 2016

Last year, Unibet ponied up and paid for rides home during the ENTIRE season. It was awesome and really incentivized people to take public transportation – something we desperately need for the sports complex because it’s become insane to get in and out of there. I’ve never seen it as bad as MNF. A typical 15-minute ride down to the stadium took an hour and I Uber’d. It took my cameraman an hour to go four blocks to park in CBP’s lots after being turned away at a full one. I know the big argument against the Sixers’ new stadium is the nightmare traffic, but let’s not act like we have it figured out at the sports complex either. After Kirk Cousins ripped our heart out in front of the world I tried to take the subway home and it was madness (story above – I’m trying to get these views up).

And how about this blurb from a SEPTA press release before the home opener about extra trips down to the stadium, but not back? –

The Broad Street Line [B] offers convenient and frequent service to Lincoln Financial Field via NRG Station. In addition to regularly scheduled trains that run every eight minutes or less, SEPTA will run 10 additional express trips before the game, which starts at 8:15 p.m. These extra trips will start at 6:05 p.m. from Fern Rock Station and will run every ten minutes until 7:35 p.m.

SEPTA: We’ll get you there! But back? Fuck you. 

It took me three trains before I gave up, walked into South Philly, and called an Uber. What if we had multiple ways to get to the stadium and none of them worked? The fan experience in 2024.

Maybe we’ll do a video where we get three people to walk, drive, and take SEPTA to or from a game to see how long each takes. I sneaky feel like walking might be the second-best choice at this point and maybe even the first on some days. Stay tuned…

P.S. My platform for my future Mayoral run of this city is no police escorts within three hours or less of game time unless you’re playing in the game. You want a police escort so you can get on the field pregame? Good. You can show up at 10 a.m. next Sunday.