The Eagles are going to have roommates, for at least another five years.
According to Marc Narducci of the Philadelphia Inquirer, Temple has signed a contract to play another five years of games at Lincoln Financial Field.
There’s another five-year option after that, primarily in case the school ever decides to build its own stadium. The original 15-year deal which expired in 2017 paid the Eagles $1 million a season, and was paid up front. They’ve since paid a slightly higher rate for one-year deals, but the terms of the new contract aren’t known. The school didn’t make any money on parking and only 10 percent of concessions revenue.
The school is debating building a 35,000-seat stadium on campus, which would cost a projected $130 million.
Capacity at Lincoln Financial Field is 69,796, and Temple has only averaged over 30,000 a game once in the last five years. That was in 2015, when they hosted Penn State and Notre Dame, and those sellouts boosted their average to 44,159.
And because Matt Rhule was coaching Temple at that time, the Panthers are now desperately trying to figure out a way to hire Lincoln Financial Field.