OT - Premier League US Summer Series Schedule Shared (Soccer)
Apologies for the alliteration. As the title says, the Prem just announced its summer lineup of games that will be held in the eastern half of the USA in late July.
This should be particularly attractive to supporters of clubs that are not ensconced annually in the Top 4 of the table. I'm not sure who will have the broadcast rights to the games.
Saturday, July 22 @ Lincoln Financial Field, Philadelphia, PA
Match 1: Chelsea vs Brighton & Hove Albion (7:00PM)
Sunday, July 23 @ Lincoln Financial Field, Philadelphia, PA
Match 2: Fulham vs Brentford (4:00PM)
Match 3: Newcastle United vs Aston Villa (7:00PM)
Wednesday, July 26 @ Mercedes-Benz Stadium, Atlanta, GA
Match 4: Brentford vs Brighton & Hove Albion (5:30PM)
Wednesday, July 26 @ Exploria Stadium, Orlando, FL
Match 5: Fulham vs Aston Villa (7:00PM)
Wednesday, July 26 @ Mercedes-Benz Stadium, Atlanta, GA
Match 6: Chelsea vs Newcastle United (8:15PM)
Friday, July 28 @ Red Bull Arena, Harrison, New Jersey
Match 7: Brighton & Hove Albion vs Newcastle United (7:30PM)
Sunday, July 30 @ FedExField, Landover, Maryland
Match 8: Aston Villa vs Brentford (12:00PM)
Match 9: Chelsea vs Fulham (2:45PM)
For those interested in getting tickets, the link above has information about early access. As a Newcastle supporter living in Michigan, I'm seriously considering a trip to Philly or Jersey. For those that may have gone to those venues, can anyone speak as to which is a better experience for adults and kids alike? Thanks!
April 11th, 2023 at 11:29 AM ^
ALSO, Arsenal will be playing the MLS All Stars on July 19th in DC.
I may have to go to that! I was just going to complain about not seeing the Gunners in the OP!
Some people in my local supporters group couldn't get any, even with the presale code. Resale tix are like $500+
April 11th, 2023 at 11:36 AM ^
I'm too busy fretting over Wolves' relegation battle to think about summer exhibition season. Sigh.
This is going to be one of the most dramatic relegation battles in a long time. There are still 9 (!!!) teams with a realistic chance of relegation and 7 teams that are either in the drop zone or are above it by 3 points or fewer. Insane!
Well, Brentford has no relegation concerns. 😁
April 11th, 2023 at 11:43 AM ^
On a bit of a tangent - which of these fields will be real / natural turf / grass - and, which fields will have an artificial surface?
they’ll all have grass brought in even if they don’t have grass playing surfaces. For example, they rolled it in at the Big House for the various friendlies it’s hosted. Professional soccer players refuse to play on turf. It seems that the NFLPA is moving towards that stance as well.
BTB, thanks.
The difference between grass and turf is significant. And, I know for World Cup - it will be grass only. For these matches, I didn’t know their stance.
You noted the NFLPA - and, I wasn’t aware of their stance and move toward grass.
As you noted, safety is one aspect - and the speed of the game is a second. Playing with touch and spin of a soccer ball is VERY different on turf, as infer you know. Thanks for posting.
April 11th, 2023 at 11:54 AM ^
Brighton is a really fun team to watch, Kaoru Mitoma should be getting a lot more traction as a top-level winger. Those games would be great to go to.
April 11th, 2023 at 11:57 AM ^
My daughter is a Sea Gulls fan, so I watch most BHA matches with her. If Wolves gets relegated, I'm definitely hopping on the BHA bandwagon. They are a joy to watch. She was very bummed when Trossard left for Arsenal, but we both agreed at the time that this would move would open up more time for Mitoma. And he's produced.
April 11th, 2023 at 12:02 PM ^
That was a move that really helped both sides. Trossard will be fine, Mitoma is shining. We're a Liverpool family, and seeing what he's done against us over and over is just magical. You have to appreciate it.
I've got 3 chances to see BHA in the U.S.
Wish they were closer but it's great that they're playing so much.
Mitoma was robbed by that handball/goal against the Spurs (my other team) the other day.
Seriously - when do elite-level soccer players get time off?
Between their domestic club league, domestic Champions league, continental Champions league, international qualifiers, tournaments & friendlies, exhibitions like the above ....... they're seemingly always playing. And it's often a whole lot of global travel too.
i think they just assume play and travel as do anything else. soccer is a fairly unique sport in that it is a natural expression of the human form like yoga. pele (rip) escapulated this as an icon for the sport. goalies are a unique breed but they know, play, and live the field game too.
April 11th, 2023 at 10:09 PM ^
Their travel schedule is extremely light compared to US sports. The geographical area the entire premier league plays in is roughly the size of the lower peninsula, and the continental games are nonexistent on the average schedule, and minimal even in the top 4. Even the most capped national team players have it easy compared to, say, your average baseball player.
I'd say go with the soccer-specific stadium (Jersey) over the NFL stadium (Lincoln), for the game experience. But if you're going to make a trip out of it, Philly>>>>Newark.
If you do end up going to Philly, it's worth going out of your way to Philly Style Bagels, which (1) is delicious and (2) was founded by my senior roommate at UM.
I thought for sure that Richmond would play some games in the States.
As a big Man United fan, it’s absolutely insane that I’ve attended a number of home domestic & European cup matches at Old Trafford in Manchester for $45-60 each but had to pay $150 each for the 2014 & 2018 United games at the Big House, which are meaningless exhibition games at the end of the day. Tickets for United vs. Wrexham (a non league team!!) in San Diego this summer are going for over $200. The American sports ticketing industry gouging us fans for every penny we’ve got, a time honored American tradition.
It's the same thing with skiing.
The local hill with just over 1000' of vertical now wants over $100 for a day ticket.
In the French and Italian Alps, there are resorts with 2x, 3x, and 4x as much vertical that charge about half for a day ticket what my local hill does.
Let's talk about supply and demand... You go to England, where they play many, many games per season. Then you come here, and they may play a handful of games, at most. You're competing with everyone here who can't get to a game to see them in person and is willing to pay more for that chance of a lifetime.* The better comparator isn't ManU regular season games in England, it's probably closer to a Champion's League knockout-stage ticket.
* I mean, it's ManU, so bleh, hardly an experience of a lifetime, but I digress.
As an Arsenal fan, although I don’t expect that they’ll have a majority of their regulars coming to the USA, I’m going to be interested in seeing whether they’ll bring New York-born, England-raised striker Folarin Balogun over to play against the MLS All Stars. Balogun is on loan this season to French club Reims and he’s among the league leaders with 18 goals, only one behind better-known stars Jonathan David and Kylian Mbappe.
Balogun could play internationally for England , the USA or Nigeria. He would be a good addition to the US Men’s National Team.
new player to me. can he reasonably expect to get playing time for england? Realistically kane and sterling won't hold their spots much longer. the us and nigeria seem much less likely to win big things.
I’m guessing that much depends on whether Balogun is called to England’s senior team’s camp for their Euro 2024 qualifiers in June against Malta and North Macedonia. He has 7 goals in 13 matches played with England’s U-21 team, but has no matches with senior team. If he’s not playing for England in those matches, then I’d take that as a sign that he has told England he’ll be “taking his talents” elsewhere.
He left England's last U21 camp with an "injury" and flew to the US to hang out with the USMNT during the last international window, and removed references to the England NT from his social media. It would probably be a surprise if he didn't accept a US call up at this point.
Honestly, England's young striker pool is not that great, so this would be a nice steal from England. I do think Pepi will give him some stiff competition though, and we have some young up and comer in Liverpool's youth system that is scoring like a goal a game.
April 12th, 2023 at 12:02 AM ^
None of these games interest me, but I want to piggyback with the notion that American sports prices are crazy stupid.
I went to Anfield Stadium last month (Liverpool) so see one of the rivalries in world football (Liverpool vs Manchester United) in a non-exhibition game (won by Liverpool 7-0) and there's not a ticket in the stadium (outside of specialty seats) for over $100. I think I paid something like $5 for a beer.
For Paddy's Day weekend in Dublin I attended the Ireland vs. England rugby match which was the decisive game of the Six Nations and again, no ticket was more than $150 face value and a pint of Guinness was about $6.
Irish Reddit is currently throwing a fit because this summer tickets for the Ireland-England rugby match this summer costs up to $125 or so which they deem an outrageous price for an exhibition game.
Yeah, European jerseys have some ads on them (although for elite teams the ads aren't really that intrusive) but the tickets are dirt cheap. I'll take that as a win.
April 12th, 2023 at 10:33 AM ^
A Man Utd season ticket—19 games that include rivals Liverpool, City, & Leeds plus big draws in Chelsea, Spurs, and Arsenal—costs less than my Michigan season ticket for which we get 7 games where the only rival & big draw is OSU in addition to 3 non P5 teams, Purdue, Rutgers, and Indiana. Insanity
Can you actually buy Man U season tickets (I would never)?
I paid a fortune for a hospitality ticket for Liverpool vs Man U and thought I would just buy Liverpool season tickets since I would only need to go to a few games a year to make it worth it......yeah good luck. The waiting list is so long they stopped letting anyone join.
Would have been nice to see Leeds on the list, but of course they might get relegated.