Curse of Billy Penn

An urban legend asserts that when One Liberty Place broke a long-standing informal agreement in 1987 to keep buildings lower than the William Penn statue on City Hall, Philadelphia's major professional sports teams subsequently endured a prolonged championship drought. The story resurfaced when ironworkers placed a small William Penn statuette on the final beam of the Comcast Center during its topping-out in 2007; within a decade Philadelphia teams won major titles, including the Phillies' 2008 World Series and the Eagles' 2018 Super Bowl. The 'curse' is local folklore and is debated as a cultural explanation for sports outcomes.