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The Curse of Billy Penn is an alleged curse that may explain the inability of professional sports teams based in the American city of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to win championships in the late 20th and early 21st centuries.
Perched atop the City Hall building at Broad and Market Streets in Center City, Philadelphia is a statue of William Penn, universally regarded as both the founder (and namer) of the city, and son of the founder of the then-British colony of Pennsylvania, the name of the latter itself meaning "Penn's Woods." By tradition — although not by law — no building in the city could ever rise above this statue; however, in March of 1987, a glass skyscraper, known as One Liberty Place, was opened for business approximately three blocks away. It dwarfed the City Hall building, exceeding its height by a whopping 397 feet (121m), reaching 945 feet (288m) compared with the latter's 548 feet (167m).
Meanwhile, the city's sports teams had, up until then, enjoyed an admirable run of recent success, as in 1980 Major League Baseball's Philadelphia Phillies had won their first World Series title ever, the NHL's Philadelphia Flyers had won back-to-back Stanley Cups in 1974 and 1975, and the NBA's Philadelphia 76ers, led by the popular and charismatic Julius Erving, had won the championship of that league in 1983.
Following the opening of One Liberty Place, Philadelphia's sports teams commenced a pattern of narrow failures to win a championship: The Flyers have lost in the Stanley Cup finals twice since the skyscraper's construction (in 1987 — a mere two months after One Liberty Place opened — and again in 1997), the Phillies lost the 1993 World Series to the Toronto Blue Jays, the 76ers lost the 2001 NBA Finals to the Los Angeles Lakers, and the Eagles lost Super Bowl XXXIX to the New England Patriots.
In addition, losses in conference finals have occured seven times since the opening of One Liberty Place, including four by the Flyers, in 1989, 1995, 2000 and 2004. The 2000 team was one win away from a Stanley Cup Finals appearance, leading the New Jersey Devils 3-1 before losing three straight, and in 2004, the Flyers lost Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Finals to the Tampa Bay Lightning. The Eagles accounted for the other three conference final losses; they lost the NFC Championship Game (the winner of which meets the winner of the AFC's corresponding game in the Super Bowl) three years in a row starting in 2001, thus becoming the first NFL team to do this in either conference since the Dallas Cowboys of 1980-1982, losing the last two at home after posting the best record in the NFC. No other team in NFL history has lost back-to-back conference title games at home since the NFL began its practice of awarding home-field advantage in postseason games based on regular-season record in 1975.
The curse appeared to have manifest itself again on December 19, 2004. The Eagles clinched home-field for the NFC playoffs, but wide receiver Terrell Owens suffered a fractured fibula and a severe ankle sprain which was expected to end his season. Even so, the Eagles won the NFC Championship Game 27-10 over the Atlanta Falcons, breaking their three-game NFC Championship losing streak. However, the curse continued as the Eagles lost 24-21 to the New England Patriots in Super Bowl XXXIX on February 6, 2005, despite Owens returning for the game, with Donovan McNabb throwing three interceptions after having had only eight in the entire regular season, further cementing his already well-established reputation as a player who "chokes" in big games.
The curse is sometimes also extended to include the saga of Philadelphia-based thoroughbred race horse Smarty Jones, who saw his bid for horse racing's Triple Crown evaporate when he finished second in the 2004 Belmont Stakes after registering decisive victories in both the Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes, including having beaten the Belmont winner, Birdstone, by 15¼ lengths in the Derby.
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