Estate Planning

Fly, Eagles, Fly—But Who Gets the Tickets When You Die? Estate Planning for Philadelphia Eagles Season Tickets

Cheering sports fans waving black and teal flags; a white eagle mascot in teal in the foreground.

For many Philadelphia families, Eagles season tickets aren’t just tickets.

They’re a tradition.

Maybe your father had them before you did. Maybe you’ve been going to games with your brother for 30 years. Maybe your children grew up knowing that certain Sundays were reserved for the Eagles—and that weddings, birthday parties, and pretty much everything else had better be scheduled around the game.

You may have spent years, or even decades, maintaining your season-ticket account.

But here’s an estate-planning question that probably hasn’t made it onto your checklist:

What happens to your Eagles season tickets when you die?

It sounds like a small issue compared with deciding who receives your house, retirement accounts, investments, or business. But in the right family, the Eagles tickets can create a bigger argument than the money.

That’s why valuable or emotionally significant rights—whether they involve sports tickets, club memberships, licenses, collectibles, or similar assets—deserve a place in your estate plan.

First: Do You Actually “Own” Eagles Season Tickets?

This is the first question that needs to be answered.

Season tickets aren’t necessarily property in the same way that your house, car, or brokerage account is property. What you may actually have is a contractual right associated with a season-ticket account, subject to the Philadelphia Eagles’ terms, policies, and procedures.

That distinction matters.

You cannot assume that because you’ve had the same seats for 25 years, your will automatically gives your child the right to keep buying those seats for another 25 years.

The team’s current rules ultimately matter.

Before incorporating season tickets into an estate plan, determine:

  • Whose name is actually on the season-ticket account?
  • What rights does the account holder have?
  • Does the team permit transfers during the holder’s lifetime?
  • What happens following an account holder’s death?
  • Are transfers to spouses or children permitted?
  • What documentation is required?
  • Are there restrictions on who may become the new account holder?
  • Does the team retain discretion over a requested transfer?
  • Have the applicable policies changed since the estate plan was prepared?

The answers should be confirmed with the Eagles based on their policies in effect at the relevant time.

Your estate plan cannot give your beneficiaries greater rights than you possess.

“I Left Everything to My Kids” May Not Be Enough

Suppose Dad has had two Eagles season tickets for decades.

His will says:

“I leave my estate equally to my three children.”

Dad dies.

Now what?

Child #1 says, “Dad always took me to the games. Obviously I should get the tickets.”

Child #2 says, “We’re dividing everything equally. Why should you get something valuable without paying us for it?”

Child #3 says, “I don’t care who owns the account. We should rotate the games.”

Suddenly, two football seats have created an estate-administration problem.

The problem isn’t necessarily the value of the tickets.

It’s the lack of instructions.

Good estate planning isn’t simply about transferring assets. It’s also about anticipating where reasonable people may disagree and providing instructions before the disagreement happens.

Decide Who Should Receive the Tickets

If your Eagles season-ticket rights are transferable at death, the simplest approach may be to identify the person you want to receive them.

For example:

“If permitted under the applicable season-ticket agreement and policies, I direct that my rights relating to my Philadelphia Eagles season-ticket account be distributed to my daughter, Sarah.”

The precise language should be tailored to the applicable contract and your estate plan.

Notice the important qualification: if permitted.

A will or trust should not promise something the Eagles’ rules don’t allow you to transfer.

It may also be wise to identify a backup beneficiary.

For example:

  1. My spouse receives the rights if permitted.
  2. If my spouse does not survive me or declines them, my son receives them.
  3. If neither can receive them, my executor may dispose of any transferable rights and distribute the proceeds according to my residuary estate.

That eliminates much of the uncertainty.

What If You Have More Than One Child?

This is where things become interesting.

Imagine you have four Eagles tickets and three children.

All three love the Eagles.

Who gets them?

There are several ways to approach this.

Option 1: Give the Account to One Child

This is administratively simple.

If one child has always attended the games with you, you may want that child to receive the season-ticket rights.

But consider whether the other children will perceive that as part of the child’s inheritance.

If the rights have meaningful economic value, you might equalize the distribution with other property.

For example, if one child receives valuable season-ticket rights, another might receive additional cash or another asset.

Whether equalization is appropriate depends on your family and your intentions.

“Equal” and “fair” aren’t always the same thing.

Option 2: Create a Family Game-Sharing Arrangement

Maybe you don’t care whose name ultimately appears on the account. Your real goal is for the family to continue going to Eagles games together.

You could leave written instructions describing how you want the tickets allocated.

For example:

  • Each child receives a certain number of regular-season games.
  • Division occurs by annual draft.
  • The draft order rotates every year.
  • Thanksgiving, Christmas, rivalry games, playoff games, and other premium games are handled separately.
  • One person serves as the account administrator.
  • Everyone contributes proportionately toward ticket costs.

There is an important legal limitation here: the Eagles may recognize only the official account holder and may not be bound by your family’s private allocation arrangement.

So there may be two separate issues:

Who legally controls the account?

and

How does the family agree to use the tickets?

Those aren’t necessarily the same question.

The Cowboys Game Problem

Every family-sharing plan eventually encounters what we might call the Cowboys Game Problem.

It’s easy to say:

“Each of my four kids gets two games.”

Until the schedule comes out.

One person gets Eagles-Cowboys on Sunday Night Football.

Another gets a less desirable preseason or regular-season matchup.

Someone gets the home opener.

Someone else gets a December game in freezing rain.

And then the Eagles make the playoffs.

Who gets those tickets?

If you’re creating a ticket-sharing arrangement, don’t merely divide the number of games.

Create a method.

One possibility is a rotating draft.

In Year One:

Child A picks first.

Child B picks second.

Child C picks third.

The following year:

Child B picks first.

Then Child C.

Then Child A.

Another approach is to place games into categories based on desirability and divide them accordingly.

You can also establish separate rules for playoff tickets.

It may sound overly detailed.

It won’t seem overly detailed when the Eagles host the NFC Championship Game.

Who Pays for the Tickets?

This issue is frequently overlooked.

Receiving the right to season tickets and receiving free Eagles tickets forever are two very different things.

Suppose Mom leaves the season-ticket rights to her three children.

Who pays the annual invoice?

What happens if one child doesn’t want to pay?

What happens if another wants every available playoff ticket but doesn’t want to contribute equally toward the regular season?

Your plan or accompanying family agreement could establish that:

  • Each participating beneficiary pays a proportionate share.
  • Payment must be made before a specified deadline.
  • Failure to pay constitutes a waiver for that season.
  • Another participating family member may cover the unpaid share and receive the corresponding tickets.
  • One family member is responsible for submitting payment to the Eagles.
  • Ticket resale proceeds, if any, are handled according to an agreed formula.

Again, these private arrangements remain subject to the team’s applicable rules.

Should You Put Money Aside for the Tickets?

For some families, this might make sense.

Imagine Grandpa’s primary objective is:

“I want my grandchildren to continue going to Eagles games together after I’m gone.”

He could potentially establish a trust containing money intended to support family experiences.

The trust terms would need to be carefully drafted, particularly if the trust is expected to pay for tickets, parking, transportation, or related expenses.

The bigger question is whether this complexity is worthwhile.

For two tickets and one beneficiary, probably not.

For a wealthy family with a longstanding ticket tradition and multiple descendants, it might be.

Estate planning should match the problem.

You don’t need a 30-page Eagles trust just because you have two seats in the upper level.

But you also shouldn’t ignore an asset or contractual right that your children are likely to fight over.

Don’t Forget the Parking Pass

Philadelphia Eagles estate planning isn’t necessarily limited to the game tickets.

Depending on your arrangements, there may also be:

  • Parking rights or passes
  • Seat licenses or similar contractual rights, if applicable
  • Account credits
  • Digital ticketing accounts
  • Associated memberships or benefits
  • Memorabilia
  • Tailgating equipment
  • Autographed items
  • Jerseys and collectibles

Some may be transferable property.

Others may be contractual privileges that terminate or are restricted upon death.

Each needs to be evaluated separately.

And don’t underestimate the emotional value of the memorabilia.

Dad’s signed Brian Dawkins jersey may be worth far less than his investment account, but it may be the asset his children care about most.

Your Executor Needs to Know the Tickets Exist

Modern ticketing creates another estate-planning problem: digital access.

There may be no envelope of paper tickets sitting in a desk drawer.

Your executor needs enough information to identify the account and communicate with the appropriate organization.

Your estate records might identify:

Philadelphia Eagles Season-Ticket Account

Account holder: John Smith
Seats: Section ___, Row ___, Seats ___
Account/customer number: ___
Associated email address: ___
Team contact information: ___

Be careful with passwords.

Your will is generally not the place to write passwords because probate documents may become part of a public record.

Instead, maintain digital-access information securely and make sure your fiduciary knows how to locate it.

Your estate plan should also include appropriate provisions concerning digital assets and electronic communications.

Don’t Assume Your Power of Attorney Solves Everything

What if you become incapacitated rather than die?

Suppose you’ve owned Eagles season tickets for 30 years but develop dementia.

Who manages the account?

Who pays the invoice?

Who communicates with the Eagles?

Who decides whether tickets should be used, transferred, or sold when permitted?

A comprehensive financial power of attorney can give an agent broad authority to manage property and contractual interests during incapacity, subject to applicable law and the underlying contract.

But once again, the team’s policies matter.

Your agent cannot exercise rights you don’t possess.

This is another reason estate planning isn’t just about a will.

A complete plan addresses both incapacity and death.

What About a Revocable Living Trust?

Some people may wonder whether placing season-ticket rights into a revocable living trust solves the issue.

Maybe—but don’t assume it does.

Whether an account can be retitled to a trust or whether a trust can become the recognized account holder depends upon the applicable season-ticket rules.

A trust doesn’t override contractual transfer restrictions.

If the Eagles permit a trust-related arrangement, it could potentially provide continuity and detailed instructions concerning administration.

If they don’t, your attorney needs to structure the plan around the rights that actually exist.

This is why copying generic language from the internet can create problems.

The document and the contract need to work together.

What Happens If Your Beneficiary Doesn’t Want Them?

Your plan should anticipate this possibility too.

Maybe your daughter loves going to Eagles games today.

Twenty years from now, she may live in California.

Or ticket prices may become more than she wants to spend.

Or her children may not care about football.

Consider allowing the beneficiary to decline the rights.

Then specify what happens next.

For example:

Spouse → Child A → Child B → Child C → sale or disposition if permitted.

A clear succession plan prevents your executor from having to guess what you would have wanted.

Consider a Family Memorandum

Not everything needs to appear in the will itself.

In appropriate circumstances, an estate plan can be supplemented by a written memorandum or family letter explaining the owner’s wishes.

For example:

“These tickets were one of my favorite family traditions. My hope is that they remain in the family and that my children and grandchildren continue attending games together.”

That statement may not itself control the contractual rights.

But it tells your family something equally important:

why you made the plan.

Sometimes beneficiaries fight because they don’t understand what Mom or Dad intended.

Explaining the reasoning can help.

Review the Plan Periodically

Sports franchises can change their ticket policies.

Your family can change.

Your financial circumstances can change.

And your relationship with the Eagles can change—usually sometime around the third quarter.

Review your plan periodically and particularly after:

  • Marriage
  • Divorce
  • Death of a beneficiary
  • Birth of children or grandchildren
  • Significant changes in ticket policies
  • Changes in account ownership
  • Acquisition of additional seats
  • Major changes in your estate plan

A beautifully drafted provision from 2015 isn’t particularly useful if the underlying account arrangement changed in 2026.

The Bigger Estate-Planning Lesson

The Eagles-ticket issue illustrates something much larger about estate planning.

The assets that create family conflict aren’t always the most expensive ones.

People expect a $2 million investment account to be divided according to percentages.

What they don’t always anticipate are the arguments over:

Dad’s watch.

Mom’s engagement ring.

The shore house.

Grandma’s Christmas decorations.

The family photos.

The season tickets.

These assets carry memories.

And memories aren’t divisible into equal shares.

That’s why good estate planning requires more than asking:

“Who gets my money?”

You should also ask:

“What does my family care about, and where could disagreement occur?”

Put the Eagles Tickets on Your Estate-Planning Checklist

If you have Philadelphia Eagles season tickets, add them to the list of items you discuss with your estate-planning attorney.

Determine what rights you actually have.

Review the Eagles’ current transfer and succession policies.

Decide who you want to receive those rights.

Identify backup beneficiaries.

Address who pays future ticket costs.

Consider how games will be divided if multiple family members will participate.

Plan for playoff tickets.

Make sure your executor knows the account exists.

And coordinate everything with your will, trust, power of attorney, digital-asset planning, and the team’s rules.

Because there’s one estate-planning dispute nobody wants their children having:

“Dad wanted ME to have the Eagles tickets.”

A little planning today can help make sure that decades of Sundays at the Linc remain what they were supposed to be—a family tradition rather than a family fight.


This article is for general educational purposes and is not legal advice. Season-ticket rights are governed in part by the applicable ticket agreements and team policies, which can change. Individuals should confirm current Philadelphia Eagles policies and consult with an estate-planning attorney regarding their specific circumstances.

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