Philadelphia Eagles: A Team in Financial Crisis

With each passing day the economic outlook seems to worsen. The stock market is plunging, gas prices are rocketing up, and unemployment continues to grow.

While this economic downturn maybe a surprise to most, it comes as no surprise to us Eagles fans. Over the past years the Eagles have been a team fighting to stay above the poverty line.

The signs of the Eagles financial woes first became evident during Super Bowl XXXIX. In Jacksonville the team struggled to put food on the table for their star quarterback. Needing energy for Sunday’s big game, Donovan scoured through leftovers to feed himself.

The unfortunate result was Donovan being overcome with food posioning on the team’s fourth quarter drive.  There on the field Donovan “lost his dinner.”  Things would only worsen moving forward for the team.

Post-game press conferences became the next sign of the team’s economic struggles. Andy Reid was forced to hold press conferences without a bottle of water. Understanding Andy became increasingly difficult between his constant throat clearing. A 99 cent bottle of water was a luxury, not a necessity. 

It’s funny we could hear Andy say, “I need to do a better job to get things turned around.”  Unfortunately we never heard how he was going to fix things. The answers were only a bottle of water away.

The years past and the financial woes only worsened. The team was forced to close its day care program.  Players and coaches would now need to search for alternative options for childcare during meetings and practices. This cutback hit the head coach the hardest.

Without company day care where would Britt and Garrett Reid go during the day? Andy Reid was forced to leave the boys home unsupervised. The grand opening of the Reid Drug Emporium soon followed.

The problems carried into the 2007 season. The one constant during the season was the excellence of running back Brian Westbrook.  Westbrook was working his way towards a Pro Bowl selection and 2,000+ total yards from scrimmage. Such a performance should result in a huge payday for Westbrook. It did not.

It was revealed that the Eagles were withholding Westbrook’s weekly paycheck.  Economic times for the team were really bad. To try and hide the problems the team blamed the Westbrook issue on an accounting gaffe with Westbrook’s signing bonus. 

Maybe the recent economic stimulus would help the Eagles. It did not. The Eagles search for increased cash flow would result in suing ex-players.  Terrell Owens received notice that the Eagles were suing him for $769,12. 

Appreciative of the Eagles gesture to not renegotiate his Eagles contract and allow him to sign with a team that could afford his services TO repaid the money to the team this week.

So Eagles fans, next time you cry for the Eagles to sign a big name wide receiver, remember a number one receiver is a luxury not a necessity.