With a winter storm poised to hit the city at the same time the Eagles will be playing the Los Angeles Rams on Sunday, travel could be treacherous for the thousands of fans headed home from the sports complex in South Philadelphia.
Friday evening's forecast from the National Weather Service office in Mt. Holly predicted 3 to 6 inches of snow could fall in the city starting before Sunday's 3 p.m kickoff. Multiple requests to the mayor's office and the city managing director's office to discuss any plans being made to ensure the safety of people traveling to and from the game were still unanswered as of Friday night.
MORE: Who would benefit more from a snow game, the Eagles or Rams?
SEPTA will run extra service on the Broad Street Line on Sunday with express trips to the sports complex scheduled every 10 minutes for about three hours before kickoff.
For those who drive, road conditions are likely to be worse after the game.
"There's definitely potential for the biggest storm of the season thus far," NWS meteorologist Ray Martin said Friday. "We expect the steadier precipitation to arrive toward the time the game starts, and it should be transitioning mostly to snow at that point. There is at least one or two models that actually show more rain than snow in Philadelphia, but the majority of our guidance does say mainly snow in the city during the game and afterwards."
Snow accumulation could reach up to an inch every hour, and temperatures are expected to plunge into the low 20s or teens by the time the game ends. Martin said that could make roadways icy, especially if rain forecast on Saturday night and early Sunday washes off salt treatments.
"With falling temperatures, that could make roads quite a nightmare," Martin said. "Plows are going to have trouble with that on the big highways. The smaller roads almost certainly are going to be snow-covered during the late afternoon and evening. It does look like a pretty big mess on the roads."
PennDOT has an agreement with the city to plow a majority of the roadways around the sports complex, including the interstates and other state roads. The department's crews will be out treating and plowing roads as needed ahead of, during and after Sunday's game, spokesperson Brad Rudolph said.
SEPTA officials urge fans to use the subway system, even if it means driving from the suburbs to other stations and connection points in the city. In areas south and east of Philadelphia, Sunday's forecast calls for lighter snow totaling 1 to 3 inches. More snow is expected in areas north and west of Philadelphia.
A growing number of fans have opted to take the Broad Street Line to Eagles games in recent years, SEPTA spokesperson Andrew Busch said earlier this week. During the regular season, an average of 15,000 riders used the subway to attend games – up from about 11,000 in 2021. Lincoln Financial Field has a seating capacity of 67,594.
Unlike in years past, subway trips after Sunday's game will not be free. The increase in ridership to games has made it more difficult for SEPTA to find sponsors to pay the $2.50 fare for all riders.
"We have not had a free-ride-home sponsor for this season," Busch said. "It is always something we are looking for, but we also try to be consistent to avoid confusing riders – so we would prefer to have a full season as opposed to a one-off for one game. We have done both in the past, but we’ve found having something predictable and consistent works best."
Busch described the subways as the "workhorses" of SEPTA's system and did not indicate any concerns about the weather causing delays on the system on Sunday.
At Lincoln Financial Field, the Eagles said they are planning for Sunday's weather to ensure that game day operations run as smoothly as possible. The team has grown accustomed to managing snowstorms over the years, including one that dumped more than a foot on the city the day before the Eagles faced the Atlanta Falcons in the NFC Championship in January 2005. A heated tarp was placed over the field during that storm and hundreds of workers were brought in to clear the snow, aided by about 65 tons of ice melt. The Eagles won 27-10 to advance to the Super Bowl in a frigid game with a wind chill that made it feel like 2 degrees outside.
Another memorable snowstorm hit the city in late December 2010, prompting the NFL to reschedule the Eagles' Sunday night game against the Minnesota Vikings to Tuesday night. About a foot of snow fell on Philadelphia, but the decision to move the game was made before the storm hit. Former Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell famously criticized the decision, lashing out with a quote that inspired the title of a book he later wrote.
"We've become a nation of wusses," Rendell said
The Eagles' most illustrious snow game at the Linc came in 2013 against the Detroit Lions, when LeSean McCoy ran for 217 yards and broke long touchdown runs of 57 and 40 yards in a comeback victory.
Win or lose on Sunday, NWS's Martin said Eagles fans should brace for frigid temperatures in the 20s and teens next week.
"Whatever falls on Sunday is going to be there all week," he said. "Anyone who's shoveling or plowing will want to get it off the roads as soon as they can because any slush is going to freeze rock solid by Monday morning and certainly by Tuesday. It's just going to be awful for anything that hasn't been cleared."
