Prior to Philadelphia's Thursday home opener against the Dallas Cowboys, the Eagles' stadium put out a travel advisory for attending fans. The home opener comes 11 days after SEPTA, the Philly metro area's primary public transit system, underwent its first set of service cuts as Pennsylvanian Senate Republicans continue to block the agency from receiving necessary funding. The cuts included reduced bus service, metro frequency and the elimination of special services, like the Sports Express line, which ran extra trains after games. Correspondingly, the stadium's travel advisory mainly focused on the potential for road traffic, and a change of parking lot procedures—fans whose "only option is to take public transportation" were simply reminded of the SEPTA service cuts and effectively told to go pound sand.
As it turns out, fans traveling to the Eagles' home opener do not need to worry. On Wednesday, it was announced that FanDuel would be partnering with SEPTA in order to sponsor service for Thursday, including Sports Express trains, and provide free rides for commuters after the game ends.
Here is a gross symptom of a fundamentally broken state: a foundering public good saved not by government but by the for-profit interests of a betting app. In an alternate universe where a cohort of elected officials were not actively malicious actors, this would be humiliating for state government. As it stands, it is simply how it is. From SEPTA's perspective, it is not difficult to understand the decision to accept the handout—a transit agency's goal is to move as many people as possible with whatever resources they have at hand. That it came from a gambling company is just par for the course in 2025.
The FanDuel sponsorship, as it stands, will only restore service to the Broad Street Line for the Eagles' home opener. It does not affect any of SEPTA's myriad other issues. After a court order, SEPTA has placed its planned September fare increase and commuter rail service cuts on hold due to those changes disproportionately affecting marginalized groups. That does not fund those services, nor does it change the cuts that went into place on Aug. 24. An estimated 52,000 students rely on SEPTA to get to school; early data showed that 63 percent of Philly schools saw an increase in late arrivals, and 53 percent had more absent students. The City of Philadelphia announced they are working with SEPTA to reallocate funds from SEPTA's existing transit subsidy in order to restore key bus lines for school service, which started on Sept. 2.
So for one week, Philly transit's health will be tied to the continued flourishing of the sports betting industry. But what's next for SEPTA? There are seven more Eagles home games, and potential Phillies playoff games, and a World Cup next summer, and, of course, Temple football. Perhaps a better way of thinking about it is that there are more opportunities for FanDuel to advertise. I'm sure FanDuel's executives are already rueing a missed opportunity—it just missed out on subsidizing children's school commutes, too.
