Eagles Plan To Accept White House Invite

Despite reports to the contrary, the Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles are looking forward to receiving an invitation from The White House to celebrate the second Lombardi Trophy in franchise history, according to a league source.

The organization is planning to accept the invitation and the tradition of honoring the champions is one of the aspects of winning Super Bowl LIX that the team is excited about.

In recent years the nonpartisan idea of honoring sports champions has been weaponized politically.

In 2018 after winning Super Bowl LII the Eagles did not visit the White House in what was a late cancelation.

Many players did not want to attend at the time and Philadelphia was prepared to send a smaller delegation led by then-head coach Doug Pederson and Super Bowl hero Nick Foles.

The first administration of Donald Trump balked.

"The Eagles wanted to send a smaller delegation, but the 1,000 fans planning to attend the event deserve better, The White House said in a statement at the time. "These fans are still invited to the White House to be part of a different type of ceremony — one that will honor our great country, pay tribute to the heroes who fight to protect it, and loudly and proudly play the National Anthem."

The Eagles issued their own statement in response.

"It has been incredibly thrilling to celebrate our first Super Bowl Championship," the statement read. "Watching the entire Eagles community come together has been an inspiration. We are truly grateful for all of the support we have received and we are looking forward to continuing our preparations for the 2018 season."

Individual players can make their own decisions on whether to attend again but recent reports that the Eagles declined an invitation were not accurate.

The idea of a political litmus test being applied to sports champions was always a silly sentiment and it’s a nice surprise that it may be going away with the Eagles’ help.

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