A Super Bowl at Lincoln Financial Field? Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie is betting on it in the not so distant future.
Philadelphia Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie may just be the biggest supporter for a positive outcome to Sunday's cold weather Super Bowl in New Jersey.
The Eagles are in the second phase of a $125 million, two-year revitalization and expansion plan of 11-year old Lincoln Financial Field that includes expanded seating, new video boards, LED bands across the dividers between the lower and club/suite levels of the seating.
Many of these improvements are under the umbrella of the NFL's continued goal of improving the in-game experience.
In addition to adding 1,600 seats in time for kickoff in August, the Eagles announced Samsung as a founding partner, Wednesday, and that the technology giant will be outfitting the Linc with the latest video technology, including replacing the two video boards in the end zone with boards that total over 9,400 square feet and offer the latest high definition technology.
“Our fans deserve the ultimate experience every time they step foot into Lincoln Financial Field,” Lurie in a statement released by the team. “One of our top priorities during this revitalization project was to enhance that experience by providing them with the highest quality HD video boards and LED ribbon boards. We are proud to be partnering with Panasonic, an undisputed leader in the field, and we are looking forward to working with them for many years to come.”
Rest assured, if Super Bowl XLVII at MetLife Stadium goes off as a rousing success, Lurie has much larger aspirations for Lincoln Financial Field.
Hosting a Super Bowl.
“You know, that wasn't the intention,” Lurie said in June. “But certainly when I'm on the Super Bowl committee, when you're bidding for a Super Bowl, the committee looks very closely at your stadium and your city, what you can host, and Philadelphia would be a great place.
“We’re going to root for a decent weather day in New York and New Jersey. We think we have a great city here to host it, and a great stadium. And I'm sure a lot of people feel the same way.”
While Lurie is investing significant capital into the Eagles home stadium to bring a Super Bowl to Philadelphia, if he is able to put together a successful bid to one-day bring the game to the City of Brotherly love, he won't be the only beneficiary.
The University of New Orleans found that Super Bowl XLVII was a source of $480 million infused into that city's economy last year.
Given the economic impact alone, Lurie putting in a bid simply makes sense for both the team and the city.
Super Bowls have already been awarded for the next three years-all warm weather climates- Arizona, San Francisco, and Houston, with the finalists already narrowed down for Super Bowl LII. That means that the earliest the Eagles could host a Super Bowl would be 2019.
So, while the nation is divided between cheering for the Seattle Seahawks or Denver Broncos, it can be expected that Lurie will simply be pulling for the game to go off without a hitch.
Matt Lombardo is the Editor-In-Chief of Eagledelphia and also an on-air personality on 97.5 FM The Fanatic in Philadelphia. Join the conversation and follow Matt on Twitter.
