The Philadelphia Eagles‘ Super Bowl victory might pave the way for Philly to host its own Super Bowl one day.
With the Eagles’ open-air home field now 22 years old and owner Jeffrey Lurie discussing the idea of a new domed stadium, the decisive 40-22 win over a would-be Kansas City dynasty probably gives the team leverage in the opening days of considering the team’s fate after its Lincoln Financial Field lease expires.
“The Eagles are in a lease and it’s up in 2032—can you imagine what winning a Super Bowl in 2025 might do to that negotiation?” said Karen Weaver, a sports business professor at the University of Pennsylvania and author of Sport Finance: Where the Money Comes From, and Where the Money Goes. “The Sixers are going back to South Philly for their new arena, which is where the other three stadiums are right now, and there’s been a whole discussion of an entertainment district. Where does Lincoln Financial Field fit in all this?”
Last week, in pre-Super Bowl comments to the media, Lurie appeared open to a new domed stadium or an extensive renovation to add a dome to the existing bowl.
“I don’t have a strong opinion on it, because you’re torn,” Lurie said as reported by CBSSports.com. “I love outdoor football. I love it. I love the cold games. I like the hot games. I like the snow games. On the other hand, Philadelphia deserves to host the Super Bowl, NCAA Final Four and lots of great events. It’s an incredible sports city, so yes, you got to balance all those things.”
Speculation about the Eagles’ new home isn’t premature: It takes years to plan, finance and build a stadium. The Buffalo Bills, for instance, publicly announced their plans for a new facility four years before its planned 2026 opening—and only after lining up a design, cost estimate and a financial contribution from New York state.
In all likelihood, helping the case for a new stadium is probably the biggest benefit the Eagles can get from winning the 2025 Super Bowl. The team averaged 69,879 fans at home games this past season—2,285 people more than its stated capacity—it’s fourth-best in merchandise sales, and NFL media-rights revenue sharing doesn’t change win or lose.
New stadiums are among the most significant ways for NFL teams to boost their valuations. The Eagles are the eighth-most valuable NFL team at $6.75 billion, according to Sportico, but are just 17th by revenue generated from related businesses—a new stadium and a stake in an adjacent entertainment district could improve those amounts. The Eagles have one of the older stadiums in the NFL; 11 teams have younger stadiums than the franchise, with another 10 football teams either publicly planning for or having secured funding for new stadiums or renovations.
To Weaver’s eye, the Eagles and other major pro teams based in South Philly could be anticipating the benefits of redeveloping the port warehouses in the area of the Linc and current Wells Fargo Center to be a mixed-use entertainment district like the Battery Atlanta, a wildly successful development by baseball’s Braves.
Philadelphia mayor Cherelle Parker “was very excited about the Sixers building a new arena in the Market East neighborhood, then all of a sudden shifted to, ‘We can have the Atlanta Battery down in south Philly.’ Where did she get that idea? I believe it was from [NBA commissioner] Adam Silver and [NFL commissioner] Roger Goodell,” Weaver said. “The Eagles, like the Sixers, I think have a longer-term strategy that they need to be in control of their own property.”
