Josh Shapiro is going to the Super Bowl on a Harrisburg nonprofit’s dime
The trip is being paid for by the Team PA Foundation, a Harrisburg-based nonprofit which doesn't disclose its donors and paid more than $12,000 for Shapiro to attend sporting events in 2023.
Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro will be at Super Bowl LIX on Sunday to watch his beloved Eagles take on the Kansas City Chiefs in New Orleans.
Embodying his usual sports talk radio persona of “Josh from Juniata,” Shapiro called into Mike Missanelli’s show on 97.5 the Fanatic on Thursday to chat about the Birds’ third trip to the Super Bowl in seven years and Shapiro’s role as Pennsylvania’s “chief cheerleader” on Sunday.
“I like our chances, man, I really, really do. I’m feeling really good,” Shapiro said.
The Democratic governor said he’ll be “with some Birds fans” to cheer on the Eagles at the Caesars Superdome, likely partaking in a common sports superstition by donning the same clothes he has worn during the team’s victories the last several weeks.
His trip will come at no cost to Pennsylvania taxpayers, but is funded by anonymous donors from a Harrisburg-based economic development nonprofit that paid more than $12,000 for Shapiro to attend sporting events in 2023.
A fund from Team PA Foundation, called Pennsylvania Growth Partnership, paid for Shapiro’s past sporting event tickets. The fund accepts contributions from undisclosed donors to promote the governor on the national and international stage, Spotlight PA reported in May 2024.
At that time, Shapiro spokesperson Manuel Bonder said that teams usually invited Shapiro to the games and that Team PA paid for the governor to attend six sporting events: the 2023 Super Bowl in Arizona and games played by the Harrisburg Senators, Penn State’s football team, the Philadelphia Phillies, and the Philadelphia Union.
The Super Bowl will be a business opportunity for the governor as the state prepares for the NFL draft to be held in Pittsburgh in 2026. On Sunday, Shapiro will mingle and collaborate with officials in the NFL and other business and economic development partners to continue planning the draft, Bonder said Thursday.
During Missanelli’s show, Shapiro recalled being “such a pain in the ass” to NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell at the last Super Bowl the governor attended, pitching Pittsburgh as the site of the 2026 NFL draft. The governor’s work proved successful, and when the event comes to Western Pennsylvania next year, it will bring “hundreds of millions of dollars in economic development,” Shapiro said.
He sidestepped a question from Missanelli about whether he will be in Goodell’s suite Sunday.
Shapiro expressed his excitement for other sports and fan experience projects happening in Philadelphia, including the new Sixers and Flyers arena in South Philly (though he said he’s not a fan of Sixers owner Josh Harris’ ownership of the Washington Commanders).
”I was clear all along the commonwealth is not going to fund an arena down on Market Street,” Shapiro said. “The commonwealth is interested in this idea of what these teams are looking to build in the stadium district.”
He said Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie’s openness to a retractable roof on a new stadium for the Birds could be part of a broader vision to enhance South Philly and the sports complex.
”I want fans going down there and eating and drinking and hanging out,” Shapiro said. “I want fans having a place to live down there. I really think we can do something extraordinary down in South Philly.”
Shapiro is also expected to wage friendly bets with his two Kansas City-area counterparts, Missouri Gov. Mike Kehoe, a Republican, and Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly, a Democrat.
The governor, who was born in Kansas City but raised in Montgomery County, made similar wagers two years ago when the Chiefs and Eagles squared off in Super Bowl LVII. He had to fly a Chiefs flag in his office at the Pennsylvania Capitol after losing his bet with then-Missouri Gov. Mike Parson.
Philadelphia has been top of mind for Shapiro as he joined Mayor Cherelle L. Parker in the city’s response to the deadly plane crash in Northeast Philadelphia last Friday. Parker said at a news conference Thursday that she will be watching the Super Bowl from home, citing ongoing work in the city, including rehabilitation efforts from the crash.
“We’re going to watch the Super Bowl together on Sunday night, right here in Philadelphia, and we want everyone to have a good time while we’re doing it,” she said.
Staff writer Nick Vadala contributed to this article.