Many people questioned if soccer could make it in Philadelphia. Others still don’t think it can keep up with the other major sports in the market. A select few in the city still don’t even know who the Union are.
Well, slowly but surely, the Philadelphia Union are proving the naysayers wrong.
With the word today that the Union have sold out all 12,000 season tickets allotted for the brand new PPL Park, set to open in late June, the Union have officially established themselves in the notoriously tough Philadelphia sports culture.
"When we embarked on this journey four years ago, we quickly found out that the Greater Philadelphia region had a robust and passionate soccer fan base,” club CEO Nick Sakiewicz said in a statement.
“The fact that we've sold out of season tickets to all Philadelphia Union games so far in advance of our first game at PPL Park is a testament to that fact and we continue to work hard to serve our fans.”
Continually—and in some ways unfairly—compared to the expansion teams before them, namely the Seattle Sounders and Toronto FC, the Union are beginning to carve out their own place in the league with such impressive sales.
The two, Seattle in particular, are much more established as soccer markets, and neither have to compete with the amount of successful professional sports teams that Philadelphia does.
Despite this, the Union were able to get 34,870 into Lincoln Financial Field for their inaugural match and then 25,038 for their second home contest. Impressive numbers by any team’s standards.
These figures basically assure that the 18,500 seats at PPL Park will be filled to capacity for the Union’s home matches this season, something team President Tom Veit is extremely excited for.
“We would like to thank the fans for the great support that they have shown us over our two games at Lincoln Financial Field,” Veit said. “We averaged nearly 30,000 fans between our two home games, which is simply amazing, and we look forward to sell out crowds at PPL Park.”
The season ticket news is extremely promising for the club that has steadily built over the last two years and now finds itself as much a part of the Philadelphia sports scene and MLS as those who have been around many years longer.
