It’s normal for the home city of a sports team to celebrate the local club’s championship berth, but it was a whole different experience to see it from a rival.
The Eagles trounced the San Francisco 49ers in the NFC Championship Game on Sunday. Philadelphia will head to its fourth Super Bowl in franchise history, and the accomplishment had acknowledgment from the Empire State Building.
The New York skyscraper lit up in green in support of the Eagles, and Giants fans were not pleased.
“Fly @Eagles Fly!” the Empire State Building Twitter account posted. “We’re going Green and White in honor of the Eagles NFC Championship Victory.”
The Empire State Building lighting up in different colors is not an uncommon occurrence. The last public notice of it was when it lit yellow in honor of International Holocaust Remembrance Day on Friday. But when it comes to sports, there tends to be a pro-New York approach.
Dave Portnoy was one New Yorker that wasn’t happy about the incident, and the Twitter account for the building simply trolled the Barstool Sports founder with a video of him fake crying.
The social media activity did not stop, though it did not get as much attention. The Empire State Building was later lit in red light in support of the Kansas City Chiefs’ Super Bowl berth after they beat the Cincinnati Bengals in the AFC Championship. The Twitter account ended the day with a “good night” tweet.
One might wonder what was going on, and an answer to that might come with one question: When was the last time you thought about the Empire State Building?
If you look closer at the Twitter account for the New York skyscraper, you’ll find it has taken the approach of most other brands. There is a first-person perspective, and there are the occasional tweets that attempt to be more personable, like “anyone want to do brunch?” There also are random “hello” tweets, as well.
It’s one thing when Cookie Monster tweets but very few were prepared from an engagement farming stunt from a New York building.
