Philly’s Phamous Phans Get Ratted Out by SMS

I know a guy named Chet who is from Philly, and he is a rapid Eagles fan. It’s pronounced ‘Iigles,’ and he had that famous Philly accent that sounds a little like a Delaware or Maryland accent. I read today in the WSJ about how this city is combatting its famously obnoxious football fans at their new stadium.

The story told how the officials dealt with the problem of opposing team fan assault. They removed the offending non-Eagles fans, that’s how. This is the city that’s famous for booing Santa Claus. The Vet was so notorious there was even a courtroom on site to prosecute violators!
Now the team has moved into a new $500 million stadium called Lincoln Financial Field. Part of the solution to weeding out fans who have a tendency to assault opposing team fans is to raise the prices. Now it costs nearly $100 to get a cheap seat, which causes even regular fans to sell about half of their tickets to family and friends. Eliminating having the same people attend every game, like they did at the lower-priced Vet, removed the ‘mob mentality’ that brought out the punches.

Another big difference is the three layer security check gauntlet fans must run through to get in. If an usher thinks an Eagles fan is drunk, he waves another guy over to smell his breath. If yes, they signal for a ‘black shirt,’ who cheerfully walks the guy to the ticket office for a full refund.

There is also a text message system, so fans can rat out boisterous fans anonymously. “I have 70,000 eyes that can help me,” said an Eagles official.