The Eagles’ #FanFriday promotion is fairly straightforward: A few days before each home game, the team posts on Twitter a random location in and around the city (and sometimes in Jersey, which I would mock except that I’m from there) where team mascot Swoop will soon be waiting. Be the first to high-five Swoop at the designated time and place you’ll win a pair of tickets to that week’s game.
After Thursday, there will have been 20 homes games since the start of 2014 season, and thus 20 #FanFriday ticket give aways. As of this week, this guy has won 13 of them:
Mark Magowan first made note the series of unlikely coincidences on Twitter, where he also noticed that the same rabid fan won a Verizon promotion for front row seats in November.
@FanSince09 picked it up, and was followed by Philly Voice, driving attention to this potentially suspicious tweet:
Some things to consider: The Eagles post where Swoop will be several hours in advance of the contest. Philly isn’t that big, even if they do sometimes send Swoop out to neighboring states. Also, when reached by Billy Penn, @YungYle, whose real name is Kyle Lloyd, insisted there’s nothing nefarious going on. “There’s no cheating,” he said. “It’s just determination. That’s all.” He claims his success is simply the result of a lenient boss and a little luck:
“I don’t have any connections with the Eagles or I wouldn’t be out there on my lunch break not getting lunch,” Lloyd told me Tuesday. “I clock out for lunch early to get there. I have a boss who’s cool enough to let me take a lunch break at 11 o’clock to go see Swoop and give him a high five.”
Lloyd admits the Eagles’ employee who attends to Swoop has started to recognize him, but that he was told there’s no rules against repeat winners. And that “#Eagles plug”? mentioned in the suspicious tweet above? Supposedly just a friend who got Lloyd and his wife sweet seats for their anniversary.
We reached out to Lloyd and the Eagles for comment and will update if we here back. Until then, you decide: Does this guy have a mole on the inside, or does he just want it more than the competition?