Various shades of green were seen throughout Allegiant Stadium Sunday as the Philadelphia Eagles worshipers showed their presence in Las Vegas.
Eagles fans are one of the best traveling fan bases in the NFL, so it should come as no surprise, especially at the team’s first go-round in Las Vegas.
The cheers were almost as loud for Philadelphia at major games as they were for the Raiders in its hometown, with Eagles fans seated in every part of the stadium, including the infamous Black Hole which is in the southern end zone. Philly fans even broke out in their battle song “Fly Eagles Fly” when the Eagles scored the game’s first touchdown.
Secondary ticketing outlet, TickPick, said the game was the most expensive game of week 7, fetching an average retail price of $ 537. That’s 40 percent more than the second most expensive game, the Seahawks-Saints, which has an average retail price of $ 383.
Of those who bought tickets for the Raiders-Eagles, 33 percent had a Pennsylvania zip code.
Many Philadelphia area fans said it was a breeze to take the trip to meet their team against the Raiders in Las Vegas.
“We try to go to a game every year and when that one hit we looked at each other and said, ‘Oh, we’re going to Vegas and the new stadium, we have to see what they’re doing there,” James Griffth , Wilmington, Delaware, said local residents. “It’s like a huge tailgate for the whole weekend. It was like driving up for four days, we’ve basically been since we showed up. “
Griffith and his wife Meagan McDonald are often in Las Vegas and even got married here. On their bi-annual trips to Las Vegas, they saw that Las Vegas is a worthy city of professional sports.
“It’s amazing,” said McDonald. “The weekend we got married, the Golden Knights were in the Stanley Cup finals and we almost went because we’re sports fans,” said McDonald. “But being here for our team is great, it’s a different feeling.”
Phans of Philly is a company that organizes all-inclusive road game trips for Eagles fans, and owner Joe DiBiaggio said about 1,000 people were booked for the trip.
“After the pandemic, people were a little happy to travel,” said DiBiaggio. “With Vegas on the program for a couple of years, I think people were looking forward to it and we had huge demand.”
DiBiagio said they received 400 deposits for the game before the scheduled date for the game was released. Along with the all-inclusive trip, Phans of Philly organized a hatchback zone for fans to meet and prepare for Sunday morning’s game.
One of those fans on the tailgate, Ryan Frost of Conshokocken, Pennsylvania, said he doesn’t come to Las Vegas often, but he must make the trip for his team.
“We do a road trip every year and as soon as they announced Las Vegas, I circled my calendar,” said Frost. “I haven’t been here in 10 or 12 years … It’s (Las Vegas) the best city, man, so why not have a soccer game right in the middle of it. It’s a party town here. “
Given the heavy Eagles presence, Griffith said he knows Raiders fans are passionate and he just hoped Philly fans would be adequately represented.
“We can muffle the noise of the crowd and make sure everyone knows we’re here,” Griffith said. “We’re here, we know it’s your home, but we’re here.”
Contact Mick Akers at makers@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2920. Follow @mickakers on Twitter.
