On Friday, December 8th, 2023 the Perkiomen Valley High School Sports Marketing classes went on a field trip to Wells Fargo Center and Lincoln Financial Field.
In order to go on the field trip, students had to pay $60 to cover their lunch meal and the trip itself. Everyone met in the cafeteria at PVHS and departed around 8:15 am with three buses ready to load up all the students and chaperones.
The first stop was the Wells Fargo Center, home of the Philadelphia 76ers basketball team. After traversing stringent security, the 160-person group split into two. Once the tour officially started, the first group started towards the stands to watch a Philadelphia 76ers shootaround. There, they saw stars such as Joel Embiid and Tyrese Maxey in their element without the barrier of a television screen. Eventually, the tour moved on as the two groups headed towards the upper-level suites. Proudly pictured up on the walls of the suites were fellow Philadelphians such as P!NK, Taylor Swift, and Philadelphia athlete Sean Couturier.
The next stop on the tour was the Xfinity Live Center for lunch. Lincoln Financial Field, home of the Philadelphia Eagles, was the last and final stop of the tour. This section included a walkthrough of the Eagles locker room and conference room, the area where the game announcers are seated, and all the high level suites. In the Eagles locker room, the tour guide explained that it is bad luck to stand on the Eagle head that is proudly printed on the ground in the locker room.
“The Eagles team is very superstitious, they believe that if anyone touches the Eagle, they will have bad luck for the rest of the season,” said the stadium tour guide.
The group was then brought down to the field to get a closer look, though the actual playing surface of the field was off-limits to students. The guide continued down the side of the field explaining more about the Eagles and what makes them unique. “The Eagles are the only NFL team that has their logo facing left. This is because the Eagles’ logo makes an ‘E’ when facing left,” said the tour guide.
Mr. Collins, the Sports Marketing teacher, was responsible for planning and organizing the trip. For Collins, this is far from his first rodeo, as this is his 20th year leading the trip.
“I have these stadiums memorized, every nook and cranny.” said Collins. “Both the Wells Fargo Center and [Lincoln Financial Field] are very open about sharing valuable information that relates to our curriculum, and I always love having things that you see on TV being right there.”
Despite the Eagles’ disappointing 33-13 loss that week against the Dallas Cowboys, Collins and many others at PV went home happy.