RSS
A Chester stadium update
This is no doubt not what the Sons of Ben wanted to hear.
I’m not talking about the announcement that Major League Soccer will take a break next year for the finals of the World Cup. That will include the Philadelphia Union, the newest entry into the MLS, which will play its home games in Chester.
At least some of them. Hopefully.
That’s the problem. The local entry in the MLS confirmed yesterday that they are at least making contingency plans should their new home under the Commodore Barry Bridge on the Chester waterfront not be ready to open the season.
The MLS season is expected to kick off on March 25.
Team officials stress this is merely a security net, something they needed to do, but hope they never have to implement.
Right now the stadium is on target to be ready for the start of the season, according to Tom Veit, president of the Philadelphia Union. And yes, it still bugs me a bit that the team is going with that Philly moniker, even though they just moved into offices at the Wharf at Rivertown in Chester, and will play their games here in Delaware County as well.
Bottom line is I need to get over it. Everyone knew the team would go with Philly as its banner, regardless where they actually ended up playing.
Something else everyone has been wondering about is the status of their 18,500-seat playground in Chester. Don’t look now, but the place is actually starting to resemble a stadium.
As to whether it will be ready by next spring, I’ll leave that to Veit.
Yesterday he told our Tim Logue that as of right now construction is right on schedule. Of course, that could change, depending on what kind of winter we have.
“We are on a very tight timeline,” Veit admitted. “With a project this big you have to be ready with another option in case the (construction) takes a little longer then you think.”
Under consideration are Lincoln Financial Field and Franklin Field on the Penn campus.
I am actually heading down to Chester next week for a tour of the team’s offices and the stadium site.
I’ll give you a full report on what I see.
I’m not talking about the announcement that Major League Soccer will take a break next year for the finals of the World Cup. That will include the Philadelphia Union, the newest entry into the MLS, which will play its home games in Chester.
At least some of them. Hopefully.
That’s the problem. The local entry in the MLS confirmed yesterday that they are at least making contingency plans should their new home under the Commodore Barry Bridge on the Chester waterfront not be ready to open the season.
The MLS season is expected to kick off on March 25.
Team officials stress this is merely a security net, something they needed to do, but hope they never have to implement.
Right now the stadium is on target to be ready for the start of the season, according to Tom Veit, president of the Philadelphia Union. And yes, it still bugs me a bit that the team is going with that Philly moniker, even though they just moved into offices at the Wharf at Rivertown in Chester, and will play their games here in Delaware County as well.
Bottom line is I need to get over it. Everyone knew the team would go with Philly as its banner, regardless where they actually ended up playing.
Something else everyone has been wondering about is the status of their 18,500-seat playground in Chester. Don’t look now, but the place is actually starting to resemble a stadium.
As to whether it will be ready by next spring, I’ll leave that to Veit.
Yesterday he told our Tim Logue that as of right now construction is right on schedule. Of course, that could change, depending on what kind of winter we have.
“We are on a very tight timeline,” Veit admitted. “With a project this big you have to be ready with another option in case the (construction) takes a little longer then you think.”
Under consideration are Lincoln Financial Field and Franklin Field on the Penn campus.
I am actually heading down to Chester next week for a tour of the team’s offices and the stadium site.
I’ll give you a full report on what I see.
posted by Heron's Nest at
7:59 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home