PPL Park: Hey Let's Call It People Park

Philadelphia Union CEO/Managing Partner Nick Sakiewicz

The MLS (Major League Soccer) Expansion Philadelphia Union has placed yet another set piece into the upper right hand corner.

Today, Keystone Sports and Entertainment (KSE) and the Philadelphia Union officially announced their partnership with PPL (Pennsylvania Power and Light) Energy plus. The partnership gives the Allentown, Pa. based power company the 11 year naming rights to the team’s soccer specific stadium currently under construction in Chester, Pa.

From this point forward we can now call the future home of the Philadelphia Union, PPL Park.
This partnership, however, is more than just a name on the side of a building.

For starters, PPL EnergyPlus also will become Philadelphia Union’s exclusive energy provider. Philadelphia Union will utilize energy at PPL Park supplied by PPL EnergyPlus, which will purchase and retire renewable energy credits equal to 100 percent of the park’s electricity use from renewable energy projects in Pennsylvania owned or contracted by PPL EnergyPlus.

“Simply put, we have found the perfect partner,” said Nick Sakiewicz, CEO & Operating Partner of KSE and Philadelphia Union. “This is a very important moment in our club’s and stadium’s history.

"To have a venerable, well-respected Pennsylvania company team up with a brand new world class facility is a profound statement. We are so energized over this partnership and can’t wait to start working together to make our mark in the community and the region.”

With electricity rate caps expiring in the greater Philadelphia region on December 31, 2010, businesses now have the opportunity to choose their electricity and natural gas suppliers.
For the first time in 10 years, PPL EnergyPlus is able to aggressively compete for business in Southeastern Pennsylvania. PPL EnergyPlus also can bring to these same customers renewable energy options, energy efficiency improvements, and demand response programs.

“With our partners at PPL EnergyPlus providing us cost effective and environmentally friendly energy, they are enabling us to create a stadium that is efficient and supports ‘green and clean’ power sources,” added Sakiewicz. “That’s a good formula for us and other businesses that want to work with PPL EnergyPlus to save money and be good to the environment at the same time.”

So the naming rights are in place; now all we need is the stadium, which at the moment is a bit behind schedule. The Union is hoping to host its first MLS game June 27, against the Seattle Sounders.

Until then, Philadelphia will play its first two home games at Lincoln Financial Field, home of the NFL’s (National Football League's) Philadelphia Eagles.

By the way, it looks like when the Union finally does open the gates to PPL Park, filling its 18,500 seats won’t be a problem. Sakiewizc noted today that as the team moves closer to a season ticket base of 10 thousand, the sale of future season ticket sales would stop.

Philadelphia's Missing Linc to World Class Soccer

Prior to the summer of 2003, Soccer fans in the Philadelphia tri-state area had to travel down to Washington D.C. or up to East Rutherford, NJ to watch World Class Soccer. That scenario however changed with the Aug. 23, 2003 opening of Lincoln Financial Field, an NFL (National Football League) style stadium with a real grass surface.

Ironically the first ever event held at Lincoln Financial Field was a soccer friendly between European club powers, Manchester United and FC Barcelona. I consider myself lucky to have been among the 68 thousand plus in attendance that night as United beat Barca 3-1.

The site lines at this stadium make Lincoln Financial Field a great venue to watch soccer, which probably explains why Philadelphia has been fortunate enough over the past seven years to host a hand full of International Matches.

In 2003 several FIFA Women’s World Cup Games were played at the Linc. Then after winning the soccer gold-medal at the 2004 Summer Olympics, the U.S. Women’s National Team conducted a “Fan Celebration Tour”, playing ten games across the United States between September and December. On Nov.6 of 2004 they dropped a 3-1 decision to Denmark.

More recently Lincoln Financial Field was host to a pair of 2009 CONCACAF Gold Cup quarterfinal matches. The first quarterfinal was between Canada and Honduras, the second between Panama and the U.S. Men’s National Team (USMNT).

That game marked the first full international appearance for the USMNT in Philadelphia since 1968 when the U.S. lost a 4-0 friendly to Israel. That game was played at the former Temple Stadium once located in the cities East Mount Airy section.

Well Philadelphia area soccer fans will get a chance once again to break out their national team scarves and jerseys on May 29 when the USMNT hosts Turkey in the final U.S. match before the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa.

Speaking of the World Cup, In April 2009, Lincoln Financial Field was listed by U.S. Soccer's World Cup bid committee as one of 58 stadiums to be potential sites for World Cup matches in either 2018 or 2022. In June 2009, it was announced that Lincoln Financial Field made the cut as one of 45 out of 70 stadium game sites under continued consideration. Lincoln Financial Field made the cut again when the stadium list was reduced from 45 to 32 on August 20, 2009.

By the way the MLS (Major League Soccer) expansion Philadelphia Union will play their home opener at Lincoln Financial Field on April 10, 2010 due to construction delays at their future home in Chester. The Union plans to limit ticket sales to the lower bowl and club sections, totaling about 37,500 seats

Coming Tomorrow: Face Book Super Bowl Predictions

Over the past week or so, I have been collecting Super Bowl Predictions from celebrities and current and former athletes in my Face Book network and tomorrow I will post those predictions.

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Among those checking in:

Former Phillies and Red Sox Hurler Curt Schilling

Former Eagles and Redskins kick returner Brian Mitchell
Espn Anchor Kevin Negandhi

and many more.

Come On Phil, Who are You Fooling?

Ok folks this is one of those don’t shoot the messenger stories, so please ease up on the emails when you’ve finished reading.

First of all I’m here to tell you that Punxsutawney Phil is a fraud. There, I have said it. Now, Phil is not a fraud in the Milli Vanilli sense, because in this case Phil is just a victim of his own circumstance.

You see, I blame those folks in Gobblers Knob, Pennsylvania who have been working this ground hog scam for over 120 years and yet every February second, there we are glued to our televisions, hoping the little marmot doesn’t see his shadow so that we can enjoy an early spring.

Well I’ve got news for you; the odds are stacked against Phil. First of all Ground Hogs day takes place every year on the same day, Feb 2, the midway point of winter. If you carefully count the days, one week at a time starting on Feb 3, you will see that the six week period in question ends just three days prior to the official start of spring, which in most cases is Mar 20.

Needless to say, there will always be six more weeks of winter following Feb 2, whether Phil sees his shadow or not. Hey, don’t get me wrong, I love the little furry fella but the tooth fairy he’s not.

As far as predicting the weather, Punxsutawney Phil is about as accurate as my former television colleagues and their fancy, schmancy weather equipment; Again, Cecily, David, Sallyann, Karen, Adam, no emails please.

Of course in their defense, there is a larger margin of error when predicting the weather over a six week period versus a 10 day forecast.

Just in case you were curious, of the 114 predictions on record so far, Punxsutawney Phil has predicted an early spring 14 times (12%). As to his accuracy, according to the Stormfax Weather Almanac and records kept since 1887, Phil's predictions have been correct just 39% of the time.

Note: Not trying to add to the conspiracy, but how is it that Philip is able to actually see his shadow, when they pull him out of his hole, before the Sun is an position to even cast a shadow. Just alittle something someting to make you go hmmmmmmmm?