December 20, 2016
On Tuesday at 11:30 a.m., Kyle Lloyd said that he clocked out for his lunch break and was back at his workplace in Center City by 12:15 p.m. In between those two times, he headed to and from the Eagles Pro Shop at Lincoln Financial Field.
Lloyd wasn’t making any purchases on this day. When he returned to work, he had a pair of free Eagles tickets in his possession:
Congrats to #FanFriday winner @YungYle! See you at #NYGvsPHI. #FlyEaglesFly pic.twitter.com/12z1giETUU
— Philadelphia Eagles (@Eagles) December 20, 2016
As we highlighted in an earlier post today, Lloyd has quite a talent for winning the #FanFriday contest. Dating back to the playoff game against the New Orleans Saints in January 2014, he has unofficially won the tickets to 13 of the past 24 regular-season and playoff games.
As the story started to spread, Lloyd’s success rate caused quite a bit of skepticism. To win once or twice in that time span is understandable, but to bat over .500 when the Eagles have 1.42 million Twitter followers and a rabid fan base seemed impossible at first glance.
Yet according to Lloyd, a diehard Birds fan, everything is on the up and up. For instance, he said today that there was no competition for the tickets. Not one person.
“Today, there was nobody in the Lincoln Financial pro shop,” Lloyd said. “There was two ladies shopping, that was it.”
Lloyd said that one of those ladies high-fived Swoop after him and then expressed surprise when he received the tickets.
“She’s like, ‘Oh, you got tickets, for what?’” Lloyd said. “I said first person to high-five him wins. She’s like, ‘For real?’ I was like, yeah, but she didn’t know. And I was the only person there. I understand the season is pretty much over. I can’t expect a lot of people to come out.”
The Eagles’ 5-9 record makes attending Thursday night’s game against the New York Giants less appealing than it might have seemed in September. Earlier in the season, Lloyd said that he faced more competition on Fridays before home games.
Take Week 7 against the Sam Bradford and the Minnesota Vikings, when Swoop was scheduled to make an appearance at Eastern State Penitentiary. Lloyd said that there were a whole bunch of people present trying to win the tickets, pacing back and forth.
Standing there with his wife, Lloyd said he was tipped off to Swoop’s location by someone else standing there. He then took off.
“I almost got hit by a car, ran across the street, and high-fived him first,” Lloyd said.
Congrats to @CSNPhilly #FanFriday winner @YungYle! See you at #MINvsPHI.#FlyEaglesFly pic.twitter.com/YbGXlfRtvy
— Philadelphia Eagles (@Eagles) October 21, 2016
Lloyd says that working in Center City gives him an advantage, as the central location allows him to get to places like Cherry Hill, New Jersey and the stadium complex in a timely manner. He has Twitter notifications for the Eagles account on his phone and tells his boss what time he’s clocking out for lunch once he sees where Swoop is going.
“I know no one that works at the Eagles in the marketing department or anything like that so they don’t give me inside scoops,” Lloyd said. “It’s just on Twitter. Everybody knows about it.”
And the infamous plug tweet? Lloyd said that he had already acquired tickets as part of an anniversary present for that week’s game for his wife and himself, but that wasn’t going to stop him.
My #Eagles plug🔌 just told me that me & wifey will be at @LFFStadium this Sunday for the #Eagles game !!
— YungLE is G.O.L.D. (@YungYle) October 19, 2016
“My sister still wants to go to a game, my son still wants to go to a game,” Lloyd said. “So you know, I’m still bringing family, I’m still determined like anybody else is.”
Well, maybe a bit more determined. The Eagles didn’t officially comment on the matter, but they did offer a tweet that probably sums up their feelings on the matter:
🤔🤔🤔
— Philadelphia Eagles (@Eagles) December 20, 2016
You guys will all have another chance next Friday, by the way. pic.twitter.com/32i97lAZRT
While it does seem a bit unorthodox that the team doesn’t cap the amount of times one person can win the contest, Lloyd has taken full advantage.
“When I won the first time, I asked [if there was a limit],” Lloyd said. “Always be courteous, I don’t want to show up more times if I’m not about to win. That’s just a waste of my lunch break.
“It’s a footrace most of the time. I don’t win them all, I didn’t win them all this year. I try.”
Follow Rich on Twitter: @rich_hofmann
