PHILADELPHIA – A lifeline has been sent to Eagles fans planning to use SEPTA thanks to a FanDuel Sportsbook sponsorship. Here’s what to know.
What we know:
The Eagles 2025 season opener hasn’t even started yet and it’s already a win for Eagles fans who ride SEPTA to get to the game.
An 11th hour “hail mary” was tossed to SEPTA’s Broad Street Line that may have averted a chaotic night at the Sports Complex.
On Wednesday afternoon SEPTA announced a sponsorship deal with FanDuel Sportsbook that will cover the expenses for the “Sports Express” service. It will allow free fares to those traveling to and from NRG Station Thursday night. Fans like Joey Geardino of West Philadelphia who says he’s coming down strictly to tailgate in the parking lot.
“To be honest the party kind of starts on SEPTA, you get on there people do what they do. It’s crazy from the second you get on to the second you get off” Geardino said.
The $80,000 operational costs and free rides will now be covered for the estimated 16,000 fans who use the service.
The special service trains were eliminated during the first round of SEPTA service cuts and there were fear fans wouldn’t be able to get home from the game.
“In about the 70 minutes after the game ends we expect to run about 16 trains. Before this we were looking at 3 to 4. So a significant difference in the capacity that we can carry people out of there” said SEPTA spokesman Andrew Busch
The sponsorship came hours before a Common Pleas Court Judge Sierra Thomas Street handed down an order mandating SEPTA resume the service anyway.
The bigger issue of SEPTA’s financial future is scheduled to play out in her courtroom tomorrow.
“The end game is to turn what is a temporary restraining order into a permanent restraining order” said George Bochetto the attorney for three plaintiffs suing the transit agency for the recent service cuts. Bochetto is trying to convince the judge to roll back service cuts already made.
Last week, he successfully fought to stop further service cuts to Regional Rail routes and rate increases on behalf of SEPTA riders.
“Those services are crushing Philadelphia citizens. Particularly in the low income area, the minority areas. And we want all of them reinstated. SEPTA clearly has ample funds over $400 million in a reserve bank account they can use” said Bochetto.
He is referring to SEPTA’s Service Stabilization fund.
SEPTA says the fund is typically utilized for every day operational expenses and would mean falling off a “financial cliff”.
Meanwhile, passengers try to keep up with the ever-changing transit landscape.
“There are significant uncertainties here. We are trying to navigate a situation here where we have a $213 million structural budget deficit that has to be addressed one way or another. We’re still hopeful we can get a funding solution with the state. If there isn’t a funding solution with the state we don’t have too many options of filling that other than to shrink our operations” said Busch.
What’s next:
The emergency hearing goes back to Judge Street’s courtroom Thursday morning. Meanwhile, lawmakers in Harrisburg continue fight over the state budget where SEPTA gets much of its funding.