Big Charlie’s Saloon, the Kansas City Chiefs bar in South Philly, cancels its Super Bowl watch party

"It's sad," said bar regular Michael Puggi. The Chiefs bar's Super Bowl watch party was oversubscribed, boxing out regulars and raising concerns about safety.

A 2017 photo from Big Charlie's Saloon, where Mikey Emma of Philadelphia celebrated the closing moments of the Eagles at Kansas City Chiefs football game.Read more

by Jenn Ladd

Published Feb. 6, 2023, 3:47 p.m. ET

Big Charlie’s Saloon, the Kansas City Chiefs bar in the heart of South Philly, announced that it would cancel its Super Bowl party on Monday, a day after tickets to the bar’s watch party sold out.

“It’s sad — we’re saying no to regulars,” said customer Michael Puggi, a friend of owner Paul Staico and spokesperson of sorts for the bar. “It was a tough decision for the owner to make.”

Puggi said some 300 people had tried to get tickets for the watch party at the bar, which has room for roughly 60 people. Many of those requesting tickets weren’t the die-hard Kansas City fans that frequent the bar in the regular season, and concerns about security were growing. “He’s worried about other people,” Puggi said of Staico’s decision.

It saddens me to say we will not be hosting the Super Bowl this year, we sold tickets very fast and had to turn our patrons away. So we don’t want to do that, we can’t accommodate everyone so we will just close for the night. I’m sorry again. Go Chiefs!
— Big Charlie's Saloon (@bigcharlies) February 6, 2023

The corner bar at 11th and McKean Streets has received an onslaught of media attention in the weeks leading up to the Eagles vs. Chiefs Super Bowl game. Though the bar is no stranger to that — it was the subject of an Emmy-winning NFL Films documentary in 2003 — the intensity of this particular matchup proved too much.

On Big Charlie’s robust Twitter feed, the announcement was met with disappointment and disbelief. “How u goin to close for the most important nite?” one commenter wrote. “Figure it out,” said another. Others moved right along: “Go chiefs! See you for the celebration party!”