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The Eagles have called Veterans Stadium home
since 1971 after previous stops at Municipal (JFK)
have also played home games at the Baker Bowl,
Temple University Stadium and Pittsburgh's
Forbes Field during the 1943 season.
Veterans Stadium, known as at the Vet," is a
multi-purposesports complex located in South
Philadelphia. Built on a 74-acre site, the
sports complex also includes a recreational
park, the CoreStaes Spectrum indoor arena, and
the new CoreStates Arena, home of the
Philadelphia Flyers and 76ers. The Core States
Center was built upon the former site of JFK
Stadium. |
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The
Vet was opened before the Phillies' 1971 baseball
season and was built at a cost in excess of $50
million. The Eagles and Phils maintain their
executive offices in the stadium.
Soon
after Shibe Park opened on April 12, 1909, people began
calling for the construction of a new stadium. The situation
had escalated by 1953, the year that the park was renamed
Connie Mack Stadium. The building had become an eyesore.
Parking around the old ballpark had become congested,
and the surrounding neighborhood had begun to deteriorate.
The
movement for a new stadium suffered numerous setbacks,
but a bond issue was passed by the voters and groundbreaking
ceremonies were finally held on October 2, 1967. The
total cost was projected at $40.5 million, with an additional
$3.6 million for parking.
The
first event held at the new Philadelphia Veterans Stadium
was the 1971 baseball season opener between the National
League Philadelphia Phillies and the Montreal Expos,
with the home team winning 4 - 1. Attendance for the
game was 55,352, the largest baseball gathering in Pennsylvania
history at the time.
The
first football game was played on August 16, 1971, a
pre-season exhibition game between the NFL's Philadelphia
Eagles and the Buffalo Bills.
Stadium
appointments included a 126,000 square foot Astroturf
artificial playing surface and a state-of-the-art sound
system. The high-tech scoreboard system was called "the
largest, most expensive, and most sophisticated in all
of sports." The scoreboards are gone now, replaced by
a new giant screen "Phanavision" and animated scoreboard.
In
addition to being the favorite venue of the Army-Navy
Football Classic, the "Vet" serves as the home field
for the Temple University Owls football team, a Big
East Conference member, for more than 15 years. Notable
rivals have included Penn State, Miami, West Virginia,
and Syracuse.
The
regular infusion of capital dollars has ensured that
the people of Philadelphia have a stadium in which they
can take pride. Some $64 million has been invested in
structural repairs, seat additions, and other improvements
since 1985, and a $10 million program for 1996 to complete
the seating replacement on the lower, to improve outdoor
lighting, to replace the Astroturf field, to extend
the fire sprinkler system, to replace the remaining
elevators, as well as to make various structural repairs
and power plant upgrades.
"To
Philadelphia's spirited football fans - who have an
opinion on everything - Veterans Stadium always has
been a huge open-air soapbox. Natives call it, simply,
the Vet. Located in south Philadelphia, Veterans Stadium
looks a lot like Cincinnati's Riverfront Stadium and
Pittsburgh's Three Rivers. There's a hardness, though,
about the stadium and an intimidating presence to the
fans who pack the Vet on weekends to watch the Eagles
- "Giggles" in Philly talk - that make a visit unique.
Some Philadelphia Eagles history: In 1933 Bert
Bell and Lud Wray bought the NFL's Frankford Yellow
Jackets and moved the team to Philadelphia. Renamed
the Eagles, the club struggled, posting losing
records in each of its first ten seasons.
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