Talk about a “You Had One Job” problem for Comcast.
Sunday is the biggest day of the year in and around Philadelphia, Pennsylvania as the hometown Eagles get ready to take on the Kansas City Chiefs in Super Bowl LVII. It’s hard to imagine most Philadelphians won’t be glued to a TV screen this evening as they root for the “Birds” to win their second Super Bowl title.
However, anyone in the region who has Comcast Xfinity might be in a bit of a pickle. A Comcast outage less than an hour before kick-off has a lot of Eagles fans freaking out about their ability to watch the big game.
According to Action News 6 in Philadelphia, a Comcast spokesperson said that “physical damage that severed fiberoptic cable in the Kensington section of northeast Philadelphia on Saturday afternoon resulted in an outage affecting a few thousand households in the Kensington and Fishtown neighborhoods and some surrounding areas.”
UPDATE: According to Comcast, the problem stemmed from someone attempting to cut a cable line. ”There was some damage done to our network” that was “out of our control,” an official said.
If you know anything about Eagles fans, they’re not going to sit there quietly while they worry about missing out on the chance to watch their beloved team win the Super Bowl. It also doesn’t help that Comcast’s headquarters are literally in Philadelphia, the one place they should be able to avoid such things.
Holy crap. Half of Philadelphia is currently experiencing a cable and Internet outage and Comcast/Xfinity are now saying it may not be back up until 6pm #SuperBowl pic.twitter.com/juKemkuvYp
— Dan (from Steely Dan) ™ (@orencamera) February 12, 2023
Running this while Comcast experiences major outage in Philadelphia is *chefs kiss* https://t.co/EAsN1r4l8q
— Anson Ling (@ns0n) February 12, 2023
Are you aware that many people in Philadelphia just lost internet and cable? If this is due to some update… on superbowl Sunday… recommend you fix asap. Otherwise Philly will burn before the game even starts. @xfinitysupport
— Cammie S. (@beachncamaro) February 12, 2023
@XfinitySupport I’m in Fishtown and my X1 cable and Internet are both out for the Super Bowl. I’m finishing cooking, my party guests will be here soon. Please fix this!
— Psychonaut Alligator Coomer (@loveschak) February 12, 2023
According to the Comcast Outage Map, they originally said that they thought the issue would be resolved by 4:35 p.m. but that message now says that they will resolve it “as soon as possible,” which isn’t soon enough for die-hard Eagles fans.
About Sean Keeley
Along with writing for Awful Announcing and The Comeback, Sean is the Managing Editor for Comeback Media. Previously, he created the Syracuse blog Troy Nunes Is An Absolute Magician and wrote 'How To Grow An Orange: The Right Way to Brainwash Your Child Into Rooting for Syracuse.' He has also written non-Syracuse-related things for SB Nation, Curbed, and other outlets. He currently lives in Seattle where he is complaining about bagels. Send tips/comments/complaints to sean@thecomeback.com.