SEPTA will run sports express trains for Eagles home opener after sponsor steps in

There will be extra SEPTA trains running for Thursday’s Eagles home opener, after all.

Absent state funding as SEPTA implemented major service cuts, FanDuel will sponsor the 10 additional express trains to the Eagles game, shuttling tens of thousands of people to and from the South Philadelphia sports complex. The sports betting platform will also foot the cost of fares for fans leaving the stadium, the team announced Wednesday.

SEPTA last month cut its additional sports service as part of its 20% service cuts across the board, as the nation’s sixth-largest mass transit agency faces a $213 million budget deficit that it is relying on state government to help fill. Meanwhile, officials in Harrisburg have been at a budget stalemate and unable to reach a deal to fund mass transit.

FanDuel will spend up to $80,000 to restore the sports express trains for Thursday’s game against the Dallas Cowboys, according to SEPTA. The transit agency will run the 10 additional sports express trains, in addition to six local trains. Fans will have approximately 70 minutes after the game to catch one of the subway rides, and fares are free for riders leaving NRG Station beginning at halftime.

Forty thousand dollars will cover SEPTA’s operating costs, and FanDuel will pay as much as $40,000 more for the free postgame rides, according to SEPTA spokesperson Andrew Busch.

“We’re certainly very happy they stepped up. Very happy to be able to get this service out tomorrow,” Busch said. “The last thing we wanted to see was gridlock around this.”

The Eagles previously warned fans that those attending Thursday’s game should arrive early and carpool, in anticipation for the reduction in Broad Street Line service. The team also told fans who do not have tickets to the home opener that they should avoid the South Philadelphia sports complex.

The news of FanDuel’s sponsorship came less than an hour before Philadelphia Common Pleas Judge Sierra Thomas-Street issued a temporary injunction ordering SEPTA to “maintain the Sports Express Train service by using ten train cars to and from NRG Station consistent with the same schedule used for prior Philadelphia Eagles.”

The injunction came in response to a motion filed by George Bochetto, a Bochetto & Lentz attorney who filed a lawsuit attempting to reverse the cuts, that argued SEPTA is in violation of Thomas-Street’s order from Friday that paused implementation of all new cuts. Bochetto’s motion said that SEPTA is in “direct violation” of the injunction by failing to run additional sports express trains, and asked the judge to hold SEPTA in contempt.

Thomas-Street didn’t sanction the mass transit agency, but her order said that failure to provide the additional service may result in penalties.

The parties are expected to return to court Thursday morning for a hearing, as Bochetto seeks to extend Thomas-Street’s injunction and expand it to include reversal of previously cut SEPTA services.

State lawmakers, SEPTA, and members of the politically connected SEPTA board have spent the last week trying to secure a corporate sponsor to pay the $80,000 necessary to run the additional trains to avoid a traffic nightmare, as tens of thousands of fans try to leave the stadium after the reigning Super Bowl champions face the Cowboys.

State Sen. Frank Farry (R., Bucks) said he notified SEPTA earlier Wednesday — before the mass transit agency secured FanDuel as its sponsor to cover the cost of running additional express subways and the cost of fares — that Uber had offered to fund the operational cost of the additional trains, approximately $40,000.

SEPTA then reported Uber’s offer to sponsor to the Philadelphia Eagles, who preferred to go with one of their own corporate sponsors, Farry said.

“We appreciate FanDuel and SEPTA for collaborating to help provide Eagles fans with convenient transportation to-and-from our home opener,” Don Smolenski, the Eagles’ president, said in a release. “Their generous support will assist fans in getting to Lincoln Financial Field so that we can all enjoy the championship moment together.”

Meanwhile on Wednesday, House Democrats from Philadelphia and the surrounding suburbs hosted a rally outside NRG Station in preparation for a disruption in sports express service — a continuation of House Democrats’ criticism of the Senate GOP in a standoff over mass transit funding.

The Democratic lawmakers said they’re appreciative of FanDuel’s sponsorship, but argued that SEPTA needs to be fully funded all year — not just for big Eagles games — and that relying on private companies is not the solution.

“We shouldn’t have to rely on a gambling company to fund our transit,” said Rep. Tarik Khan, (D., Philadelphia). “That should be the job of our legislators.”

Pennsylvania’s state budget is now more than two months overdue, as Gov. Josh Shapiro, House Democrats, and Senate Republicans have failed to reach an agreement over how to fund mass transit, among other sticking points.