Since the construction of the Lincoln Financial Field in 2003, the Temple Owls football team has called it their home. Lincoln Financial Field, commonly called ‘The Linc’, is mainly known being the home of another football team, the Philadelphia Eagles in the NFL. The Owls have had some memorable moments in the Linc. Just last year, they beat East Carolina, who was ranked 23rd in the nation at the time, which was their first win over a ranked opponent in 16 years (beat Virginia Tech on the road in 1998, 28-24). Temple has also seen two season with two or less wins while at the Linc, so not all the moments are memorable.

On Tuesday, Temple University and Lincoln Financial Field signed an extension to their contract, which was set to expire in 2017, to include two one-year options in 2018 and 2019. This extension comes in the middle of talks for Temple considering to build a new stadium on campus. Ray Betzner, a spokesperson for the university stated “This amendment gives us flexibility and time to explore [all of the] options”. A new stadium could address a few problems that Temple currently faces with playing at the Linc.

The first problem the team and university have is the size of the Linc compared to the average attendance. Lincoln Financial Field officially holds 68,532 people. However, the average attendance for a Temple home game last season was 23,369 people, which means they only filled 34.1% on gameday. Temple usually open the upper deck to the public, but even the lower bowl of the Linc only fills approximately 40,000 people. The Owls fans still only fill about 58.4% of the seats. When you look at the games on TV, besides the big games like Penn State and Notre Dame, you see a lot of empty seats in the crowd and it does not accurately represent the fan base. A new stadium for Temple can provide a more accurate seating capacity of approximately 35,000 and the stadium would seem as if it is more filled, and a rise in popularity shows more people going to the game and the actual number of fans going would rise. For the games against big opponents, the Owls can go back and play at the Linc since they could fit more people there and have been shown to.

Another problem that Temple faces with Lincoln Financial Field is their location. For the alumni in the surround Philadelphia suburbs and Delaware Valley, it is in the right spot. Just hop on I-95, get off at Exit 17, park and walk up to the stadium and you’re there. For students, however, it is a different story. There are two ways to get to the game from the heart of Temple campus. The university offers shuttle services from their dorms on Broad Street down the stadium, but that is still a 25 minute commute for the students who want to cheer on their Owls. The other way is to take the subway. Students will either catch a train on the Broad Street Line at either the Cecil B. Moore or Girard stations, which costs about $2 round trip and takes about 30 minutes on a good day to get to the stadium stop. After talking with students, they say the trip deters them going to watch the games most weekends. This writer has taken the trip from campus with a family member, and it is a hassle to get to the stadium. If a new stadium were to be built on campus, “an overwhelming amount of students would go to games” said one Temple student this writer talked with. It is also worth noting that the university bought an abandoned high school on North Broad Street, which was approved to be demolished this year and takes up about 4,200 square feet of space. This size is very close to the size of Franklin Field, which holds 52,592 people and is the home of the Penn Quakers collegiate football team and is another stadium that is built on a city block. This new stadium, if built on campus, would bring in more students and create a stronger gameday experience.

More students coming to the games at a new stadium brings up the final issue with playing at the Linc, the gameday experience. Going to Lincoln Financial Field is an incredible and electric atmosphere….only for an NFL though. Temple fans can get the Linc to rock for big games, but it just does not give off the college football vibe that Temple needs for their gameday atmosphere. More students would come out to games at a stadium that is on campus, and a smaller stadium would keep the fans closer to each other all around the stadium. The stadium would be more filled and get the fans louder and on their feet. They would not feel out of place like they do in the Linc. They’d be in a stadium that’s fit to their size needs. The gameday experience at a new stadium would be similar to that over at the Liacouris Center that Temple has for their basketball games and create memorable days for students, alumni, and fans of the team.

While Temple may not go through and build a new stadium, there would be upsides to building it not only for the team, but for the university too. Only time will tell what Temple decides to do regarding the situation, but it'll be exciting to follow.

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About the author
Maxwell Rizer
My name is Maxwell Rizer. I am 17, a senior in high school, currently residing in Pennsylvania. I like to watch sports, along with analyzing the statistics, and write about what I see.