Union fans get their ‘fortress’ by the river

PPL Park, the Philadelphia area’s first venue built specifically for soccer, sits at the foot of the Commodore Barry Bridge on the banks of the Delaware River.

“From some points of view it looks like parts of the stadium are floating on water,” said Nick Sakiewicz, CEO and operating partner of the Philadelphia Union and its parent company, Keystone Sports and Entertainment.

Closest to the water inside the facility is the 2,000-seat supporters section, created for the MLS expansion team’s fan club, the Sons of Ben. The fan club members have dubbed the section “River End.”

“The location … really distinguishes it from any other stadium in the league,” said Michael Naioti, the fan club’s vice president. “We hope to make PPL Park a fortress that opposing teams hate to visit.”

City: Chester, Pa.

Owner: Delaware County Waterfront Improvement Authority

Operator: Keystone Sports

Team: Philadelphia Union

Building manager: Global Spectrum

Project Manager: Icon Venue Group

Architects: Rossetti

Construction manager: TN Ward Co.

Cost: $122 million ($80 million for stadium, $42 million for land acquisition, preparation and related costs)

Funding: $49 million from Keystone Sports, $43 million from state of Pennsylvania, $30 million from Delaware County.

Pouring rights: Coca-Cola for carbonated soft drinks, Turkey Hill for iced tea and lemonade.

Food services: Ovations Food Services

Merchandise concessions: Angelo’s Soccer Corner

Scoreboard and video boards: Panasonic

Seat provider: Track Seating

On June 27 the Union christened its 18,500-seat fortress in Chester, a suburb southwest of Philadelphia, before a sellout crowd on a blistering hot Sunday afternoon.

PPL Park was built as the centerpiece for a proposed mixed-use development for Chester’s Delaware River waterfront. Rossetti designed the stadium, its fifth in MLS, but some inside space was shaped with feedback from the team’s most devout fans, whose 6,000-member club started from just a few fans lobbying for an MLS team in Philly.

The section has its own entrance for members, and the Sons of Ben were allowed to pick a seat design, opting for a clamshell style. They also said they didn’t want the cup holders attached to every other seat in the stadium.

“They don’t need them,” joked Sakiewicz. “They drink faster than everyone else.”

PPL Park features five party decks; a full-service restaurant; and 100 fixed points of sale for food and beverages.

Angelo’s Soccer Corner, a soccer equipment supplier and retailer based in Lancaster, Pa., is operating the Union Store at the stadium. Chris Hoover, the company’s vice president of marketing, said the store opened at noon for the 5 p.m. opener.

“Business was brisk,” he said. “We had a steady growth [of customers] until about 3 p.m. when we were packed, then it didn’t stop until right before game time.”

Elsewhere around the stadium, Keystone Sports and Entertainment forged a “comprehensive partnership” with Philadelphia-based Comcast-Spectacor that calls for Comcast-Spectacor subsidiaries Global Spectrum, Ovations Food Services and New Era Tickets to manage the facility, provide food and beverage concessions and catering, and support Union ticket sales, respectively.

Keystone Sports also bought the turnstiles from the soon-to-be demolished Wachovia Spectrum, the one-time home of Comcast-Spectacor’s Flyers and 76ers teams, to use at the entrances to PPL Park. The turnstiles have been painted Union blue.

John George writes for the Philadelphia Business Journal, an affiliated publication.

Seating And Suites The stadium divides its seats into six sections, the most expensive of which are the 1,200 club seats, at midfield above the player benches. They cost $1,100 for a season ticket. Overall, season tickets were capped at 12,000 and have sold out. Team officials estimate 60 percent of the seats provide fans with scenic views of the bridge and the river. Thirty private suites seat 14 to 18 people each at the top of the stadium, half on each sideline. Windows on the suites open up completely. The Union still has a few suites available for rental but wouldn’t divulge numbers or prices. The design of PPL Park allows for an additional 30 suites.

Food and Drink PPL Park has 100 fixed points of sale for food and beverages, pluslocal vendors who will sell specialized food products, from corn on the cob tobarbecued items, in the concourse. Union President Tom Veitsaid fans who were surveyed “were really not so interested in the health-food stuff,but we will have healthy options out there.” The stadium also has an 11,000-square-foot private restaurant on thesuite level at the end opposite the river. It seats 300 people indoors and 150on a terrace. The club said it was in discussions with potential naming-rightssponsors for the space. In June, the Unioncompleted a dealwith Utah-based Mangia Technologies, which hasdeveloped an application that allows fans to order and pay for food andmerchandise from their seats.

SPONSORS Because parking is limited directlyoutside, the club is encouraging fans who want to gather before matches to meetat the Toyota Plazaon the west side of PPL Park. It opens threehours before game time. PPL EnergyPlus, an energy retailer andsubsidiary of PPL Corp. based in Allentown , Pa. , bought the naming rights to coincide with itsbusiness strategy of expanding into the Philadelphia marketplace. Crozer-Keystone Health System and Premier Orthopaedics, health care providers in Delaware County ,are jointly sponsoring the team and are title sponsors for the northeast gateof the stadium.

Design Features PPL Park has a built-in concert stage forwhen the stadium is not being used for soccer. Its facade is dominated by brick and natural stone, both hallmarks oftraditional Philadelphia architecture. The stadium also featuressideline roofs, made of an Aerogel and Teflon material, which are designed toprovide fans with some protection from the elements while also keeping in crowdnoise.