New Yorkers were left furious on Sunday evening when one of the city’s most famous landmarks celebrated a fierce rival’s victories.
The New England Patriots – a heated rival of both the New York Jets and Giants – clinched their spot in the Super Bowl with a narrow 10-7 victory over the Denver Broncos in the AFC Championship.
Shortly after Drake Maye led the Patriots to the big game, which will be held on February 8 at Levi’s Stadium, Santa Clara, New York’s famous Empire State Building lit up in red, blue and white – the team colors of New England.
To make matters worse, the iconic building’s official X account shared a video of the Patriotic facade, writing: ‘Santa Clara bound! Shining in @Patriots colors in honor of their AFC Championship win.’
The move sparked severe backlash from the Big Apple’s natives, given the city’s historic sporting rivalry with Boston and its teams.
Many infuriated New Yorkers slammed the move as a ‘disgrace’, while some branded the building a ‘traitor.’
The Empire State Building infuriated New Yorkers by lighting up in New England Patriots’ colors
Drake Maye led the Patriots to AFC Championship glory and a spot in the Super Bowl Saturday
‘@NYCMayor Can we stop lighting up the Empire State Building in celebration of non New York Teams,’ one New York sports fan account begged Mayor Zohran Mamdani.
‘Gotta stop these antics,’ another insisted while a third pleaded: ‘Stop doing this.’
‘Zero percent chance Boston would ever do this for a NY team. Disgraceful,’ another posted.
The Empire State Building has a longstanding tradition of lighting up in US sports teams’ colors across the NFL, NBA, MLB and NHL to commemorate victories – irrelevant of whether the franchise hails from the city.
Should the Broncos have emerged from the snowy AFC Championship victorious, the building would have had an orange tint for the evening.
The landmark was previously decorated in green and white to celebrate the Philadelphia Eagles’ various NFC Championship victories in recent years.
The move also triggered outrage given the Eagles’ divisional rivalry with the New York Giants and Philadelphia’s with the Big Apple.
In fact, the backlash reached such fervent levels in 2023 that New York governor addressed the issue.
The New England Patriots narrowly beat the Denver Broncos in a snowy AFC Championship
The iconic landmark previously lit up in green and white in honor of the Philadelphia Eagles
‘To be clear, New York State has no control over how @EmpireStateBldg lights its colors,’ she tweeted.
The Patriots had fallen behind 7-0 in Denver, but had a key fourth-down stop near their own end zone to spark the comeback over the Broncos.
Christian Gonzalez intercepted Jarrett Stidham, starting in place of an injured Bo Nix, at New England’s 36 with 2:11 remaining and the Patriots iced their first playoff win in Denver when Maye ran for 7 yards on third-and-5 from his 41.
In Mike Vrabel’s first season as coach, New England became the third team in the Super Bowl era to win a conference championship with 10 points or less. Buffalo beat Denver 10-7 in the 1991 AFC title game, and the Los Angeles beat Tampa Bay 9-0 in the 1979 NFC championship game.
