Valentine's Day 2025 was a love story between a football team and their fans. The Philadelphia Eagles held their Super Bowl LIX parade on Friday in the City of Brotherly Love surrounded by enormous adulation.
Jalen Hurts was at the front on the lead bus hoisting the Lombardi Trophy. The Super Bowl MVP smoked a victory cigar and wore a Jordan Brand hoodie that said, "Love, Hurts." The victory, where the Eagles beat the Kansas City Chiefs 40-22, was his first Super Bowl win and the first for Offensive Player of the Year Saquon Barkley, who joined Philadelphia this offseason and had a record-breaking year.
Fans camped out the night before to get prime seats at the Philadelphia Museum of Art aka the Rocky Steps where the parade concluded with speeches from Hurts, Barkley, defensive end Brandon Graham and wide receiver A.J. Brown. According to The Philadelphia Tribune, an estimated 1 million people turned up to show love to their team.
It was a clear, sunny day and fans were bundled in Eagles jackets and beanies to withstand the 37°F temperature. People were sitting on top of any structure that could hold them to get the best view of their champions.
One fan dressed in a dog costume with a Barkley jersey. Others had whistles to emulate Gillie Da King's viral dance to Too $hort's "Blow The Whistle." The Philadelphia rapper walked in the parade wearing his signature oversized hat.
Former Eagles star Jason Kelce was also in attendance and took some time to high five some fans before the busses passed through.
Event organizers showed the Super Bowl game on screens around the Broad Street trail while fans gathered around. At around 11 a.m. when the buses were scheduled to depart from Lincoln Financial Field, DJ Diamond Kuts built the energy. She played Lil Wayne, Young M.A, Lil Uzi Vert, Soulja Boy, Ludacris and Kendrick Lamar's "Not Like Us," the megahit that the Grammy-winning rapper performed at the Super Bowl halftime show. Fans rapped word for word when she played Meek Mill's "Dreams and Nightmares" while the players waved and soaked it all in.
The buses inched their way down the route with people holding candy hearts featuring sayings like, "Go Birds," "Love Hurts" and "Philly Got Heart." Roaring fans threw drinks for the players to enjoy. Bryce Huff was getting everyone hyped by shotgunning multiple beers. Eagles general manager Howie Roseman's forehead was cut when he was hit in the head with a can. He told the crowd at the museum that "I bleed for this city!"
Along the route, Barkley saw the team's ball boy in the crowd and lifted him over the barricade so that he could join the festivities. The running back also took a moment to take pictures with a little girl who was celebrating her third birthday. Graham, Brown and several other players also got off the bus to greet the fans.
The grand finale at the Rocky Steps was an emotional one. Barkley brought fan Ryan Quigley to the podium with him. Quigley was injured in the New Year's Day attack in New Orleans and his friend was killed. The Eagles also brought him to the Super Bowl with them.
The other players soaked in the significance of the Super Bowl victory.
"I told myself that when I got drafted that I wouldn't come to the Rocky Steps until I got drafted," Hurts told the crowd as they chanted "M-V-P!" "And now we're here."
"They said I was a diva. They said all I care about was stats," Brown said. "You gonna get all those things wrong about me, but one thing you can get right. I'm a f*cking champion!"
The celebration continued as the crowd dispersed. Fans danced on top of a bus stop and others took turns sounding the horn of a semi-truck that blocked the streets.
Fans were picking up pieces of confetti off the ground as a keepsake of the day. The actual party might have ended, but the love lingers.
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