George Thorogood Tickets Count Basie Center for the Arts September 27

Formerly an open up-air stadium in Philadelphia

John F. Kennedy Stadium

Philadelphia Municipal Stadium in 1927
Former names	Sesquicentennial Stadium (1926) Philadelphia Municipal Stadium (1926–1964) John F. Kennedy Stadium (1964–1992)
Address	South Wide Street
Location	Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Coordinates	39°54′05″Northward 75°10′19″West  /  39.9014°N 75.1719°Due west  / 39.9014; -75.1719 Coordinates: 39°54′05″Due north 75°x′19″W  /  39.9014°N 75.1719°W  / 39.9014; -75.1719
Owner	City of Philadelphia
Capacity	72,000 (for American football)
Surface	Grass
Structure
Opened	April 15, 1926
Closed	July 13, 1989
Demolished	September 19–24, 1992
Architect	Simon & Simon
Tenants
Philadelphia Quakers (AFL) (1926) Philadelphia Eagles (NFL) (1936–1939, 1941) Army-Navy Game (NCAA) (1936–1979) Freedom Bowl (NCAA) (1959–1963) Philadelphia Bell (WFL) (1974)

John F. Kennedy Stadium (formerly Philadelphia Municipal Stadium and Sesquicentennial Stadium) was an open-air stadium in Philadelphia that stood from 1926 to 1992. The South Philadelphia stadium was on the e side of the far southern stop of Broad Street at a location now function of the South Philadelphia Sports Complex. Designed by the architectural business firm of Simon & Simon^[1] in a classic 1920s style with a horseshoe seating pattern that surrounded a runway and football game field, at its peak the facility seated in excess of 102,000 people. Bleachers were later on added at the open (North) end.

Each section of the main portion of the stadium contained its ain entrance, which displayed the messages of each section in a higher place the archway, in a nod to ancient Roman stadia. Section designators were divided at the south stop of the stadium (the bottom of the "U" shape) betwixt West and East, starting with Sections WA and EA and proceeding north. The north bleachers started with Section NA.

It was built of concrete, stone, and brick on a 13.five-acre (55,000 grand²) tract.^[ii]

Opening and names [edit]

Leaders of Philadelphia's sports organizations gathered at the Philadelphia Bedroom of Commerce in March 1920 and announced their intention to build a 200,000 seat sports stadium to concenter national and international sporting events. The urban center immediately submitted its candidacy to host the 1924 Summer Olympics. At the time, the University of Pennsylvania's Franklin Field was the city's largest ballpark with a chapters of xxx,000 seats; the Philadelphia Athletics' Shibe Park sat 23,000, and the Phillies' National League Park sat eighteen,000. The initial meeting in 1920 favored edifice the stadium equally a memorial to the nation's war dead and placing information technology in Fairmount Park at its entrance to the Benjamin Franklin Parkway.^[three]

The stadium would be congenital as part of the 1926 Sesquicentennial International Exposition. Originally known as Sesquicentennial Stadium when information technology opened April xv, 1926, the structure was renamed Philadelphia Municipal Stadium^[4] after the Exposition'south endmost ceremonies. In 1964, it was renamed John F. Kennedy Stadium in memory of the 35th President of the U.s. who had been assassinated the year before.

Football [edit]

The stadium's kickoff tenants (in 1926) were the Philadelphia Quakers of the beginning American Football League, whose Saturday afternoon home games were a popular mainstay of the Exposition. The Quakers won the league championship just the league folded after one twelvemonth.^{[ citation needed ]}

The Frankford Yellow Jackets also played here intermittently until the team'southward demise in 1931. Two years later the National Football League awarded another team to the city, the Philadelphia Eagles. The Eagles had a iv-season stint as tenants of the stadium before moving to Shibe Park for the 1940 flavor, although the team did play at Municipal in 1941. The Eagles also used the stadium for practices in the 1970s and 1980s, even locating their first practice bubble^[discuss] there earlier moving it to the Veterans Stadium parking lot following the stadium'southward condemnation.^{[ commendation needed ]}

Pennsylvania Railroad trains lined up at a temporary station outside the stadium afterwards the 1955 Ground forces-Navy game

The stadium became known chiefly every bit the "neutral" venue for a total of 41 annual Army–Navy Games played there betwixt 1936 and 1979. The streak was briefly broken during Earth State of war II, when travel restrictions forced iii games to be held on campus and one game to be played in Baltimore. From 1960 to 1970 the stadium served as Navy's dwelling field when they played Notre Matriarch. It also hosted the Notre Matriarch-Ground forces game in 1957, marking the only time the Cadets accept hosted the Fighting Irish outside of New York or New Jersey.^{[ citation needed ]} The Pennsylvania Railroad and its successors, Penn Central and Conrail, offered game-24-hour interval service to all Army-Navy games, using a sprawling temporary station synthetic each year on the railroad'due south nearby Greenwich freight thousand. The service, with 40-odd trains serving as many every bit 30,000 attendees, was the single largest concentrated passenger rails move in the country.^{[five] [6]}

A.F. "Bud" Dudley, a former Villanova Academy athletic-manager, created the Liberty Bowl in Philadelphia in 1959. The game was played at Municipal Stadium and was the merely common cold-weather bowl game of its time. It was plagued by poor attendance; the 1963 game between Mississippi State and NC State drew less than ten,000 fans and captivated a loss in backlog of $xl,000. The Freedom Bowl's best game was its first in 1959, when 38,000 fans watched Penn State beat Alabama 7–0. However, even that crowd was swallowed up in the surround. Atlantic City convinced Dudley to move his game from Philadelphia to Atlantic City's Convention Hall for 1964. six,059 fans saw Utah rout West Virginia in the first indoor bowl game. Dudley moved the game to Memphis in 1965 where it has been played since.^[vii]

The stadium hosted Philadelphia's City Championship high schoolhouse football title game in 1939 and 1978. St. Joe'south Prep defeated Northeast, 27-six, in 1939. Frankford shell Archbishop Wood, 27-7, in heavy rain in 1978.^[8]

On September 16, 1950, the Cleveland Browns, playing their commencement season in the NFL after dominating the defunct All-America Football Conference (winning all 4 league titles), played their kickoff NFL game against the 2-time defending NFL Champion Philadelphia Eagles. Philadelphia was the center of the professional football universe at the fourth dimension; not but did the metropolis host the defending NFL Champions, but the league offices were as well in town, headed upward past NFL commissioner (and Philadelphia native) Bert Bell. To accommodate the anticipated ticket demand, the game was moved from Shibe Park; this proved to be a wise decision, as the contest drew a so NFL-record 71,237—nearly doubling the Eagles' prior attendance marking of 38,230. Many thought Bell had scheduled this game of defending league champions to teach the upstarts from the AAFC a lesson. Instead, the Browns shredded the Eagles' vaunted defence in a 35-x rout, and went on to win the NFL Championship that start year in the league.^{[ commendation needed ]}

In 1958, some 15,000 fans attended a CFL game between the Hamilton Tiger-Cats and the Ottawa Rough Riders with proceeds from ticket sales going to local charities. (Hamilton won, 24-18, in what remains the only regular-season CFL game played between two Canadian teams outside of Canada.)^{[ citation needed ]}

The stadium was abode to the Philadelphia Bell of the World Football League in 1974. The Bell seemed to give the WFL instant brownie when it announced a crowd of 55,534 for the habitation opener, and 64,719 for the 2d domicile game. However, when the Bell paid city taxes on the omnipresence figures two weeks afterwards, it emerged that the gates had been wildly inflated. The team sold block tickets to area businesses at a discount, and the tax revenue was not reported. In turn, many of these businesses gave away the tickets for costless. The actual paid omnipresence for the domicile opener was only 13,855, while the paid omnipresence for the 2d game was merely 6,200—and many of those tickets were sold well below face value. The "Papergate" scandal made the Bell and the WFL look foolish, and proved to be a humiliation from which neither recovered. The team played at Franklin Field in 1975; the league folded late into that season.^{[ citation needed ]}

Other sports [edit]

On September 23, 1926, an announced oversupply of 120,557 packed the then-new Stadium during a rainstorm to witness Gene Tunney capture the world heavyweight boxing championship from Jack Dempsey. Undefeated Rocky Marciano knocked out Jersey Joe Walcott at the stadium on September 23, 1952 to win boxing's heavyweight title.

On June 26, 1957, a 150-lap NASCAR convertible race was held at the Stadium, which was won by Bob Welborn in a 1957 Chevrolet.^[9]

JFK Stadium hosted Team America'due south soccer match against England on May 31, 1976, as part of the 1976 The statesA. Bicentennial Loving cup Tournament. In the game, England defeated Team America, 3-1, in front of a small-scale crowd of 16,239. England and Italy had failed to qualify for the 1976 European Title final tournament and and then they joined Brazil and Team America, composed of international stars playing in the Due north American Soccer League, in the iv team competition. Because Team America was composed of international players and was not the American national squad, the Football Association does non regard England's match against Team America as an official international match.^[ten]

JFK Stadium was 1 of xv Us stadia (and along with Franklin Field, also in Philadelphia) inspected past a five-member FIFA committee in April 1988 in the evaluation of the U.s.a. every bit a possible host of the 1994 FIFA World Loving cup.^[11] Past the time the World Cup was held in 1994, JFK Stadium had already been demolished 2 years prior.

Other events [edit]

The Philadelphia Flyers won their 2nd Stanley Cup on May 27, 1975, and celebrated with a parade down Broad Street the next day that ended at the stadium. 5 years later, the Philadelphia Phillies won their start Globe Series on October 21 of that year. The post-obit solar day, the team paraded the exact road. In 1981, The Rolling Stones announced their World Tour via a press conference at JFK.^[12] Through 1989, the Broad Street Run form ended with a lap effectually the runway at the stadium.

Concerts [edit]

JFK Stadium occasionally hosted stone concerts:

The Supremes appeared in concert here on September x, 1965.

The Beatles played their second and final Philadelphia concert here on August 16, 1966.

Judy Garland gave her concluding concert in America here in 1968, singing in part with the Count Basie ring.

Yes, Peter Frampton, Gary Wright, and others played the "1976 Bicentennial Concert" hither on June 12, 1976, to 105,000 fans.

Led Zeppelin was scheduled to conclude their 1977 US Tour at the stadium, only the terminal 7 concerts of the bout were cancelled, due to the decease of Robert Establish's 5-year-old son Karac. The original Led Zeppelin never played in the US over again, although the surviving members performed at Live Aid.^[13]

Peter Frampton returned from a 7-month lay-off and played with Lynyrd Skynyrd, The J. Geils Ring and Dickey Betts & Great Southern, before 91,000 fans, on June xi, 1977.^[14]

On June 17, 1978, The Rolling Stones performed in front of 100,000 fans. Opening acts included Bob Marley's sometime bandmate Peter Tosh and Greenhorn. Subsequently The Stones finished their dispirited 45 minute-gear up, disgruntled concert goers, many of whom had waited through 12 hours of drizzle, began throwing anything they could notice onto the phase that was shaped into the "tongue" logo.^{[ citation needed ]}

In early May 1981 on a Sat, a concert called The Roundup, which included bands .38 Special, Marshall Tucker Ring, Molly Hatchet, The Outlaws and the Allman Brothers, took place in ane of the original All Day concert events starting at x a.m.

Another all-star testify was staged at JFK on July 30, 1978 that featured the Sanford-Townsend Band, Bob Welch, Steve Miller, and Fleetwood Mac. The Bob Welch and Steve Miller sets were marred by PA system problems. The Fleetwood Mac set was marred by the unreliable vocals of Stevie Nicks, who was disinterested at best and off-key or off-tempo at worst. The rest of the band was strong, nevertheless, particularly Lindsey Buckingham's guitar work and Christine McVie's vocals.^{[ citation needed ]}

The Rolling Stones opened their 1981 American Bout ("Tattoo You") with ii shows at JFK Stadium, on September 25 and 26, 1981. Opening acts were Journey and George Thorogood & the Destroyers. (The Stones pre-opened the tour with a warm-up show at the Sir Morgan's Cove club in Worcester, Massachusetts, on September fourteen, 1981.) Mick Jagger met the press at JFK Stadium on August 26, 1981, to announce the bout. Obviously in honour of the former stadium's football heritage and the Eagles' contempo NFC championship, Jagger—who performed in something resembling a pair of football trousers and knee pads for much of the bout—at one betoken donned an Eagles jersey that became part of his '81-'82 stage wardrobe.

On June nineteen, 1982, an all-twenty-four hour period show opened with a still mostly unknown Huey Lewis & the News and featured Joan Jett & the Black Hearts, Loverboy, The Kinks and headliner Foreigner, who were touring their 7x-platinum "4" album and inflated a colorful, thirty-foot-high facsimile of a Wurlitzer-style jukebox as they performed "Juke Box Hero" in the evidence'south terminal minutes.

On July three, 1982, Rick James performed in concert at JFK Stadium, called "The Throwdown in Phillytown." Also featured were Frankie Beverly and Maze, Kool and the Gang, Atlantic Starr, and One Way featuring Al Hudson.

Blondie ended their Tracks Across America Tour hither, on Baronial 21, 1982. They disbanded shortly thereafter, due to guitarist Chris Stein beingness diagnosed with a rare life-threatening illness, pemphigus and The Hunter having sold very poorly. They did not perform alive once again for fifteen years, until 1997. Genesis was the headliner and used the open air stadium for one of their spectacular dark laser and fireworks shows. The show started at 3pm and also featured Elvis Costello & The Attractions, A Flock of Seagulls, and Robert Take chances & The Heroes.

The Who performed at the stadium on September 25, 1982, early into their (then) Good day Tour which also supported their album It's Hard. Opening acts for the show were Santana, The Clash, and The Hooters. A full of 91,451 were in attendance, one of the largest ticketed single-evidence, not-festival stadium concerts ever held in the U.S., as documented by Billboard.^[15]

Journey headlined a concert June 4, 1983. The show featured Bryan Adams, The Tubes, Sammy Hagar and John Cougar (equally John Mellencamp was referred to at the time). This bear witness provided the majority of the concert footage for an NFL Films produced documentary, called Journey, Frontiers and Beyond.

On Baronial xx, 1983, The Police headlined another "JFK Jam" equally these multi-deed, all-day shows were existence referred to. This time the opening acts were R.Due east.M., Madness, and Joan Jett.

Pop Group The Jacksons performed for four sold-out shows in September 1984 during their Victory Tour in front of 240,000 in omnipresence, i of the largest audiences of the tour.

Live Aid was primarily a dual-venue concert held on July 13, 1985. The event was held simultaneously on the American side at JFK Stadium (attended by about 100,000 people) and on the Britain side at Wembley Stadium, in London (attended past 72,000 people), likewise equally other venues in other countries. Musical acts that appeared in Philadelphia included Madonna, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, REO Speedwagon, The Hooters, Bryan Adams, Eric Clapton, The Cars, Blackness Sabbath, Judas Priest, the surviving members of Led Zeppelin, Crosby, Stills, Nash & Immature, Mick Jagger, Tina Turner and Bob Dylan, accompanied past Keith Richards and Ronnie Wood, of The Rolling Stones. Phil Collins performed at Wembley Stadium, traveled past helicopter to Heathrow Airport, flew to Philadelphia via Concorde supersonic jet and performed at JFK Stadium.

Bob Dylan & Grateful Dead July x, 1987 - 70K plus, 90 degrees in the shade (they were spraying fans most the stage with water). The 24-hour interval John Hammond died.

U2 performed at the stadium on September 25, 1987, during their Joshua Tree Tour, in front of a crowd of 86,145 people.

Pink Floyd held a concert on September nineteen, 1987, in front of a crowd in backlog of 120,000 (general admission was sold on the field), but the show was not sold out.^{[ citation needed ]}

The stadium played host to The Monsters of Rock Festival Tour, featuring Van Halen, Scorpions, Dokken, Metallica and Kingdom Come up, on June eleven, 1988.

The stadium also played host to Amnesty International'south Human being Rights Now! Do good Concert on September 19, 1988. The testify was headlined past Sting and Peter Gabriel and also featured Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Ring, Tracy Chapman, Youssou N'Bleak and Joan Baez.

Information technology was not known at the fourth dimension, merely the stadium's last event was the Grateful Expressionless'southward concert on July 7, 1989, with Bruce Hornsby & The Range as their opening act. Fans at the show recall concrete crumbling and bathrooms in poor shape. The Dead closed the show with "Knockin' on Heaven's Door"; information technology would exist the last song played at the stadium.^[16] In 2010, the concert recording was released on a CD/DVD combination, titled Ruby-red White & Indigo.

On August 28, 29, and 30, 1989, in grooming for opening their 1989 Steel Wheels tour in Philadelphia (Veterans Stadium, Baronial 31, 1989), the Rolling Stones gear up up their phase inside JFK Stadium for ii full dress-rehearsal performances on August 28 and 29, 1989. A few dozen fans were allowed to enter the stadium to attend these rehearsals.

Closing and demolition [edit]

Half-dozen days after the Grateful Expressionless's 1989 show, then-Mayor Wilson Goode condemned the stadium due to multiple findings by urban center inspectors that the structure was structurally unsafe and a potential fire run a risk.

Just hours before the concert, urban center inspectors had discovered piles of combustible materials, numerous electrical problems, and crumbling and/or falling concrete: the Grateful Expressionless were just immune to perform due to strict no-smoking regulations that had been enacted some fourth dimension earlier.^[17] While renovation and repairs of the stadium were discussed, this was quickly rejected due to the exceedingly loftier costs, and it was demolished on September 23, 1992.^{[18] [19] [20] [21]}

The 1993 Philadelphia stop for the Lollapalooza music festival was held at the JFK Stadium site on July xviii, 1993. The site was an open field, as construction had not yet begun on the then all the same tentatively named "Spectrum Ii" (Wells Fargo Centre). This was the show at which Rage Against the Machine stood on stage without playing in protest of the Parents Music Resource Heart.^[22]

The Wells Fargo Middle at present stands on the site, which is part of the complex that as well includes Lincoln Financial Field and Citizens Bank Park.

Come across also [edit]

• List of memorials to John F. Kennedy

References [edit]

1. ^ * City Architect; Section of City Architecture; Philadelphia Information Locator Arrangement
2. ^ "JFK Stadium: End Zone Well-nigh". Philadelphia Inquirer. February v, 1992. p. B2.
3. ^ "Booming a stadium in Fairmount Park". Philadelphia Inquirer. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. March 13, 1920. p. 12.
4. ^ E.L Austin and Odell Hauser. The Sesqui-Centennial International Exposition (Chapter Thirty "MUNICIPAL STADIUM") pp 419-423; Philadelphia, PA (1929).
5. ^ Cupper, Dan (1992). Crossroads of Commerce: The Pennsylvania Railroad Calendar Art of Grif Teller. Stackpole Books. p. 138. ISBN9780811729031 – via Google Books.
6. ^ Froio, Michael (December eleven, 2015). "To The Game: A Pennsylvania Railroad Tradition". Retrieved Baronial 24, 2016.
7. ^ Antonick, John (June 22, 2005). "Unique Game". Due west Virginia Mountaineers. MSNsportsNET.com. Archived from the original on May 26, 2011. Retrieved April 26, 2009.
8. ^ "FB City Title Recaps". tedsillary.com. Ted Sillary. Retrieved Apr 23, 2009.
9. ^ "1957 NASCAR convertible race". Racing-Reference . Retrieved March 28, 2012.
10. ^ "England 'south Minor Tournaments and Cups; U.Due south.A. Bicentennial Cup Tournament, U.S.A., 1976". England Football Online. Peter Young, Alan Brook, Josh Benn, Chris Goodwin, and Glen Isherwood. Retrieved April 24, 2009.
11. ^ Vecsey, George (April 10, 1988). "Sports of The Time; Americans Fix for Lights, Cameras and Soccer". The New York Times . Retrieved April 24, 2009.
12. ^ JFK STADIUM ROLLING STONES Press Briefing
13. ^ "Led Zeppelin". Page twenty All Shows . Retrieved July 26, 2009.
14. ^ Rockwell, Joan (June thirteen, 1977). "Frampton Back, Plays to 91,000; Philadelphia Show Is First Concert in 7 Months Meg-Dollar Gross". The New York Times. p. 36. Retrieved July ten, 2009.
15. ^ "The best-attended United states tours of allptime". Vanity Edge. Archived from the original on March 17, 2012. Retrieved Baronial 3, 2011.
16. ^ "John F. Kennedy Stadium; July 07, 1989; Philadelphia, PA US". Expressionless.net. Retrieved April 29, 2009.
17. ^ "City Closes JFK Stadium". Philadelphia Inquirer. July 14, 1989. Archived from the original on February 16, 2013.
18. ^ "Bye To JFK Stadium Equally Demolition Firm Is Hired". Philadelphia Inquirer. March 10, 1992.
19. ^ "Wreckers, 1, JFK Stadium, 0". Philadelphia Inquirer. April 21, 1992.
20. ^ "JFK Stadium Philadelphia Terminal Days 1993" (Video). YouTube. Archived from the original on December 21, 2021. Retrieved September 10, 2017.
21. ^ Bernstein, Ralph (March 22, 1992). "Wrecking Ball To Leave Simply Memories Of JFK Stadium". The Seattle Times . Retrieved September 10, 2017.
22. ^ "Lollapalooza 1993 - John F. Kennedy Stadium, Philadelphia, PA". Jane's Addiction.org. Feb eighteen, 2007. Retrieved September 17, 2008. ^{[ expressionless link ]}

Further reading [edit]

• Essay about Pink Floyd at July 24, 1968 Summer Music Festival at JFK Stadium

External links [edit]

• Grateful Dead'due south July 7, 1989 JFK Concert
• Site of JFK/Municipal Stadium via Google Maps
• Aeriform photograph of JFK/Municipal Stadium in 1927

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Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_F._Kennedy_Stadium_(Philadelphia)

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