Last week we had the opportunity to check out a soccer matched between the hometown Philadelphia Union and my towns New England Revolution at the new PPL Park over in Chester, PA.
This game was actually a make-up, rescheduled from the weekend when Hurricane Irene came prancing through the area.
PPL Park is one of 9 "soccer specific" stadiums in Major League Soccer and it really hits the mark as a great venue to watch a match. I've been to countless Revolution games at Gillette Stadium up in Foxboro and it's just too big. Even on nights when 25,000 people show up it still feels empty...just the wrong choice for a soccer match that's not on the international scale. So these newer stadiums which are built for soccer only and hold about 20,000 are just perfect. It's an intimate feel and you're right on top of the action...hardly a bad seat in the place. Another huge bonus is that a good percentage of the seats are under cover, so even in bad weather you'll be dry!
I made sure we got there a little early so we could walk around and have a look:
I'm not sure how much the players and coaches like their bench location...right amongst the fans! I'd bet money that there's some sort of plexi partition installed sooner rather than later....
A major downside of this stadium is it's location. I really think they missed the mark here. It's at the base of the Commodore Barry Bridge in Chester, PA. I'll just come right out and say it...Chester is not a nice place. It's a rough neighborhood, with a ton of crime, about 30 minutes [15 miles] south of downtown Philly on the Delaware River. This stadium is meant to be the anchor of a huge riverfront redevelopment project. The problem, right now, is that the stadium is the only thing down there. I'm talking nothing else! Signage getting off the highway is poor and even going home there was no direct route back to the bridge so you have to navigate your way through the neighborhood. If you're not there for a game there is absolutely no reason whatsoever to be down there. I'm not sure why they wouldn't have built this in a better area and an area that was serviced by public transportation.
As for the game itself...we'll, it started out great for the Revs. They jumped out to a quick 2-0 lead and were even up 4-1 at the half. That's when the wheels fell off the wagon and the Union ended up equalizing the match at 4-4 in stoppage time. I don't think I'm the only one who thinks it's time for Kraft to send Stevie Nichols packing. It's been long enough!
Oh...Freddy Adu did come over to our section to say hello to a few buddies...so that was kinda cool. Hard to believe he's been playing professionally for 8 years already!
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