Eagles president defends open practice decisions, compares it to Wing Bowl

The Eagles drew a healthy dose of criticism last month when the team announced it would hold just one offseason practice open to the public, the second-fewest in the NFL behind the Oakland Raiders.

Eagles president Don Smolenski defended the team’s decision Tuesday on 94.1 WIP, telling host Angelo Cataldi that opening up just one practice this season will be more than enough to meet demand, based on last year’s attendance.

“What we found is last year, 120,000 tickets were reserved for the two practices, and of those, only 10,000 were actually reserved for both days. And only 2,500 people actually came to both days. ... So really what that was showing to us is we can do this in one practice," Smolenski said, later adding that the team could have more open practices next year if demand increases.

So far, 23,000 tickets have been sold for the open practice, which will take place at Lincoln Financial Field on Sunday, Aug. 4, at 7 p.m.. Last year, the team said 40,000 fans were in attendance at the Linc to take in the team’s first of two open practices, which were free to the public but required a ticket.

Smolenski also defended the decision to charge $10 per ticket to enter (plus a Ticketmaster fee of $1.22) this year, the first time fans won’t be able to attend an Eagles practice for free. In addition to all the proceeds going to autism research, Smolenski said it was necessary to have a “good an experience” and cited Wing Bowl (which ended its run in 2018 after 26 years) as an example.

“I think having this donation makes people vested, so if the weather is questionable, they’ll still continue to come and support the team,” Smolenski told Cataldi. “It allows us to plan for who’s coming, much like you experienced and the success you had with Wing Bowl.”

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“I wish you wouldn’t bring up Wing Bowl for a number of reasons,” Cataldi joked. “In no way are the Philadelphia Eagles associated with Wing Bowl.”

Smolenski also said additional considerations were at play, including scheduling and preserving field conditions at the Linc. On top of the open practice and two preseason games, the Rolling Stones will perform there Tuesday (rescheduled from June 4 due to Mick Jagger’s heart surgery).

“The field’s going to be torn up. The field’s going to be re-sodded, so it sort-of ruled out this first weekend,” Smolenski said.

Listen to the full interview here:

Eagles players report to training camp on Wednesday. The first full-team practice will take place Thursday at the NovaCare Complex, and the camp will run through Aug. 13.

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