The Eagles will take on the Giants on Saturday night in the NFC’s divisional round with a trip to the conference championship on the line and understandably, locals in Philadelphia are excited. So thrilled in fact, that many die-hard fans wanted to get the pregame party going early, which meant pulling a rather savvy maneuver to tailgate for as long as possible.
According to NBC Philadelphia reporter Brenna Weick, Eagles fans weren’t able to get into the parking lots surrounding Lincoln Financial Field until 4 p.m. ET for the 8:15 p.m. kick. However, some of those same lots opened at 8 a.m. on Saturday morning for a 1 p.m. National League Lacrosse game between the Philadelphia Wings and the Toronto Rock.
As a result, Eagles fans bought Wings tickets just to get into the lots and get their tailgates rolling. The move gave those supporters a potential 12 hours to conduct their pregame festivities as opposed to a measly four hours.
ESPN’s Sal Paolantonio added on NFL Countdown that he had seen fans lining up on Friday night to get tickets to the lacrosse game, with a few of them plainly admitting what their intentions were.
As Weick and Paolantonio put so beautifully: It’s a Philly thing.
The top-seeded Eagles (14–3) will take on a division rival, the No. 6-seeded Giants (9–7–1), at 8:15 p.m. ET on Saturday. The game will air on Fox.