Delco Steaks, a newly-opened restaurant at Franklin’s Table Food Hall, promised free cheesesteaks for student ticket holders if Penn men's basketball scored over 80 points and won Saturday's home game against Harvard.
Credit: Jesse ZhangWhere’s the beef?
That was the question many Penn fans were asking after the Quakers' convincing victory over Harvard on Saturday afternoon.
Attempting to take advantage of the much-advertised promotion at Delco Steaks that promised free cheesesteaks if Penn scored 80 points and won, dozens of students flocked to the newly-opened restaurant straight from the Palestra.
However, much to the eager students’ dismay, the steak spot at Franklin’s Table — a food court located on 34th and Walnut St. — was closed as a result of its hand sink being repaired.
“We’ve been lied to!” one student shouted, slightly facetiously yet still conveying a sense of disappointment.
After The Daily Pennsylvanian’s tweet on the issue began to make waves, the Penn men’s basketball Twitter account announced that the restaurant will be reopening this Tuesday and that students who have a valid ticket will still be able to claim their free cheesesteak then or Wednesday.
Delco Steaks also chimed in on Twitter, writing “sorry for the inconvenience! Penn is working on fixing the issue! we will be up & running asap! we communicated this to penn immediately!”
The incident brings back memories of a similar episode in 2018, when the now-defunct Abner’s Cheesesteaks did not honor a longstanding promotion of giving free cheesesteaks to ticketholders whenever Penn scored 100 points and won. However, unknown to most fans, the promotion had quietly ended, unlike in this weekend’s scenario.
The Delco Steaks deal is just one in a series of partnerships and promotions that Penn Athletics has undertaken recently to promote student attendance at athletic events. For example, also at Saturday’s game were free fanny packs for the first 100 fans. Additionally, all students received a 50% off menu-priced Papa John’s pizza as a result of the win.
Delco Steaks previously sponsored free cheesesteaks at the Penn men’s basketball game against Princeton on Jan. 16, part of a bigger promotion that night that also included free Papa John’s pizza and Quaker t-shirts. The steaks and shirts ran out quickly as the game was noticeably well attended, so much so that it prompted an appreciation email from coach Steve Donahue to the entire student body the next day.
As Penn Athletics attempts to bolster the middling student spirit with these various promotions, the Delco Steaks fiasco will go down as another bump in a rocky road to a packed Palestra.
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