(The Center Square) – Before Philadelphia hosted the FIFA World Cup, the MLB All-Star Game, and America250 celebrations, bars and restaurants in the City of Brotherly Love could apply for a permit to stay open until 4 a.m. as a result of bipartisan legislation signed by Gov. Josh Shapiro.
With those events now in the rearview mirror, The Center Square asked multiple lawmakers to reflect on how it worked out.
Shapiro noted that Pennsylvania’s Deputy Secretary for Tourism and Hospitality is still gathering data, which he said will be forthcoming, but struck an optimistic tone.
“Anecdotally, we think it worked,” Shapiro said on Tuesday, as he applauded statewide and local elected officials, as well as law enforcement, for how those major events were handled across Pennsylvania.
Senate Bill 1218, signed into law by Shapiro in March, allowed bars and restaurants in Philadelphia to stay open for two extra hours between June 11 and July 20.
“Everybody drank responsibly, socialized responsibly, and it was great,” Shapiro said.
State Sen. Vincent Hughes, D-Philadelphia, was one of the co-sponsors for the bill that passed the upper chamber by a 49-1 vote.
He echoed the governor’s sentiment.
“What we’re going to do is go straight to the data, and see how it’s played itself out,” Hughes told The Center Square. “The overall response from everything over the last six weeks to two months has been hugely popular.”
“And we just want to get that data, get that information, both the data and the anecdotal stuff, and then figure out how we learn from that,” he continued. “And if there’s a case to build upon that going forward, we will do that.”
State Sen. Joe Picozzi, a Republican representing parts of Northeast Philadelphia, was the other elected official in his chamber to lead this effort.
Following the Senate’s passage of the proposal, he said the bill “supports our local businesses while helping ensure a safe and welcoming experience for visitors and residents alike.”
“It’s a chance to drive up economic growth and showcase Philadelphia on a world stage,” Picozzi said in March. “We’re seeing a strong intergovernmental approach underway to make the most of this occasion.”
His office was unable to provide a comment for this story before deadline.
In the state House, the bill passed by a 176-23 vote. A majority of Philadelphia lawmakers voted in favor of this proposal, except for Democratic state Reps. Mary Isaacson and Ben Waxman.
Waxman told The Center Square on Tuesday that his opposition at the time stemmed from concerns about the process, its implementation, and its impact on his constituents in Center City.
However, he believes elected officials from the mayor’s office to the governor’s administration, “did an amazing job at keeping things under control, making sure that people had fun and that they were safe.”
“Many of the concerns that at least I had about how it was going to play out and what might happen did not materialize,” Waxman said. “I’m very happy that the things that I was worried about didn’t occur.”
Waxman, like Shapiro and Hughes, also said he was looking forward to seeing the data produced to determine its impact.
But he also noted that there was a “pretty limited number of establishments” that wound up getting those licenses to stay open until 4 a.m., which played a role.
PhillyVoice reported on July 2 that 49 bars and restaurants had their permits approved by the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board, although eight establishments canceled their permits, and another nine were still being reviewed.
Visitphilly.com, the official visitor site for Greater Philadelphia, published an article on June 22 listing 39 restaurants, bars, and venues open until 4 a.m. with approved permits.
“I really thought that it worked out as well as it could have, and I did not get the types of complaints and concerns from constituents that we were really worried about because of how well everything was executed,” Waxman said.
Isaacson, the other Philadelphia lawmaker who voted in opposition, did not respond to a request for comment from The Center Square.
Philadelphia, one of the 16 host cities for the World Cup across North America, hosted six matches.
While the state is awaiting data on how bars and restaurants were impacted by being able to stay open later, initial numbers have been released by Philadelphia Soccer 2026 showing initial totals.
“Philadelphia Soccer 2026 is taking a victory lap, saying the city’s six World Cup matches and 39-day Fan Fest drew record crowds, boosted local businesses and created a monthlong festival atmosphere,” Axios Philadelphia reported on Wednesday.
Although it’s unclear if the millions invested by the city to host the World Cup paid off, the outlet notes that the free Fan Fest drew more than 575,000 visitors during the tournament, hotels saw more than a 50% increase in revenue during those six matches in Philadelphia in comparison with the same time last year, hotel occupancy rate being nearly 90% on July 4, while SEPTA’s ridership on the Broad Street Line also jumped 82% on World Cup match days in June.
Are lawmakers open to keeping bars open later on a more permanent basis?
The three lawmakers who talked to The Center Square didn’t commit to backing the policy on a more permanent basis.
But they also didn’t shut the door.
“I think we learn from it and we’ll take a look to see whether or not this is something we consider in the future,” Shapiro told The Center Square.
Hughes noted that there is currently no legislation pending to keep bars open past 2 a.m. in the future.
“We’re going to look at the data,” he said. “We’re going to look at the information. We’re going to look at how it worked.”
“And then we’ll consider,” he continued. “Just like everything else, we’ll consider it.”
Waxman mentioned that there have been past conversations about making Philadelphia a 24/7 city, like New York. He told The Center Square that he doesn’t think Philadelphia needs to go that far and isn’t aware of any imminent changes, but describes himself as “open to those conversations and those discussions.”
“I’m open to that conversation, and I have to say that even in the period where I was getting feedback from my constituents about my vote and about the run up to the World Cup and everything, I had a lot of constituents that are open to that conversation as well,” he said. “I got a few more party animals than I realized who live in my district, and I think that it’s a natural conversation to have, and I think we should have it.”
“I think though to the point that both the governor and Senator Hughes made, we need to get the data first, and we need to really look at well, how many establishments were really open until 4, right,” he added. What was the impact of that?… We have to be realistic about that before we just jump off the ledge into some kind of a new kind of thing, but I think it’s a conversation worth having, and I think I’ve always thought that.”
