Why Glorify Them?
Philadelphia has a long and well-known history in the professional
sports world. As far back as the 1870’s,
sports have had an important mark in Philadelphian history and to the
reputation of the city. Aside from the political history the city has, the
controversies, victories, and long-lasting rivalries with neighboring sporting
teams has brought the city of Philadelphia most of the attention it gets from
the outside world. Philadelphia is known for their old roots in establishing
professional and national sporting leagues and their die-hard fans. As a
Kinesiology /Sports Medicine major, I choose to glorify the buildings housed in
the South Philadelphia Sports Complex because, like many Philadelphians, I too
have a love for the sporting world.
Philadelphia Sports History: http://phillysportshistory.com/tag/1870s/
The Buildings:
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| Wells Fargo Center |
Wells Fargo Center (formerly the
CoreStates Center, First Union Center and Wachovia Center) is located at 3601
South Broad Street Philadelphia, PA 19148, lies at the southwest corner of the
South Philadelphia Sports Complex, which includes Lincoln Financial Field,
Citizens Bank Park, and Xfinity Live!. Comcast Spectator, who also owns the
Philadelphia Flyers, brought on Ellerbe Spectrum firm to be the architects on
the project. The Wells Fargo Center is a multipurpose indoor arena which
houses many of the cities professional sport teams including: Philadelphia
Flyers, Philadelphia 76ers, Philadelphia Wings, and the Philadelphia Soul. The
Arena also holds concerts, conventions, and other various functions. On September
14, 1994, construction broke ground on the project and after two years of
building, on August 12, 1996, the CoreStates Bank center opened its doors. At
the completion of the arena, the CoreStates Bank Center took over as the home of
the Flyers, 76ers, and the Wings, when they replaced The Spectrum as the home
arena. At the time, the project cost approximately $210 Million, the
equivalence to $307 Million if built today.
Naming Issue (Controversy): Before construction began, developers decided on
naming the new arena after its predecessor as the “Spectrum II”. But that idea
was scraped when CoreStates Bank agreed to pay $40 million over twenty-one
years for naming rights. For a couple of years, the arena had the name “CoreStates
Bank Center” but due to various bank mergers, the facility has gone through
multiple name changes. After “CoreStates Bank Center” was gone, the name change
to First Union in 1998, Wachovia in 2003, and the latest name change to Wells
Fargo Center in July of 2010. (O’Brien)
 |
| Lincoln Financial Field |
Lincoln Financial Field (the “Linc”)
is located at 1020 Pattison Avenue Philadelphia, PA 19148 between 11th
and 10th streets, and stands aside theI-95 as part of the South
Philadelphia Sports Complex. The Lincoln Financial Field is the home stadium to
the NFL’s Philadelphia Eagles. The owners of the facility, the City of
Philadelphia, hired the NNBJ firm as the architects for the project. Construction
began on May 7, 2001 for the Lincoln Financial Field and two years later on
August 3, 2003 doors opened to the new facility.
Controversy: The Lincoln Financial Field as seen many controversies
since it opened in 2003, but one of its most recent issues, the cutback on
tailgating, hit Philadelphian fans close to home in 2007. Prior to the opening
game of the Eagle’s 2007 season, a ruling was made to curtail one of Eagle’s
fans most cherished traditions: tailgating. Although the Eagles did not ban the
tradition entirely, they set-up rules to make the practice a little harder for
fans, like banning tables and tents and purchasing more than one parking spot
per vehicle. Fans were not happy with
the change but had no chance but to adapt to the new policy. (Hutz)
 |
| Citizens Bank Park |
Citizens Bank Park, also known
as “the Bank” or “CBP” to locals, is a baseball park that houses the Philadelphia
Phillies is located 1 Citizens Bank Way Philadelphia, PA 19148. Citizens Bank
Park is also located in the South Philadelphia Sport complex. Before
construction started, the City of Philadelphia decided to “Go Green” with the
project which made the Phillies the 1st Major League team to join
the EPA’s Green Power Partnership Program. Multiple architect firms like Stanley
Cole (formerly Ewing Cole of Cherry Brott), Populous, and Agoos Lovera
Architects were brought on to the project. The City of Philadelphia contracted
for construction to begin on Citizens Bank Park on June 28, 2002. And after two
years of construction, the Park opened on April 3, 2004.
Phillies Going Green: http://philadelphia.phillies.mlb.com/phi/community/rgg/index.jsp
Film appearances:
Invincible
(2006), a Walt Disney Pictures sports film directed by Ericson Core set in
1976. It is based on the true story of Vince Papale, who played for the
Philadelphia Eagles from 1976–78. The film was made to pay tribute to one of
Philadelphia’s notable Eagles players, Vince Papale. The movie represents the popular depiction of
the “Philadelphian story” of a man working against all odds to reach his final
goal successfully. Invincible has
similar themes and ideas to another popular Philadelphia sport movie, Rocky.
Since the movie was based on a famous Eagle player, the Lincoln Financial Field
and Franklin Field (the Eagles’ previous home) was used as the backdrop for most
of the movie.
Silver Linings Playbook (2012) directed by David O. Russell uses the Eagles
and the Lincoln Financial Field as a side story and supplement to the movie. The
main character’s father asks him to attend a Philadelphia Eagles game he has
bet virtually all of his money on, as a "good-luck charm". After a
chain of unfortunate events, the main character misses the game and the Eagles
lose. Later in the movie, the father gets convinced that the Eagles can win if
his son and the lead female are together. Since the movie was based on Philadelphia
and the Eagles, they used the Lincoln Financial Field as a backdrop. (IMDb)
LA Times on the use of
Philly in the movie:http://articles.latimes.com/2013/jan/21/news/la-trb-pennsylvania-philadelphia-shows-off-its-silver-lining-20130115
How the Architecture is used in Films:
Architecture can be used in various
ways in film. Notable buildings are often placed in movies as a symbol to give the
viewer information and insight, or used as the backdrop to the story to
establish the setting of the story. As seen in the examples given with the
South Philadelphia Sports Complex, the facilities were used in films as a
backdrop of Philadelphia to give the viewers a better sense of the city. To
people who are not native to Philadelphia, using their sporting complexes in
the backdrop makes it easier to identify with the city since Philadelphia has
such a reputation in the sports world.
References:
- · Krista Hutz, "Unfazed fans party on as usual” Philadelphia Daily News, September 18, 2007
- · Seravalli, Frank (July 2, 2010). "It's Officially the Wells Fargo Center". The Philadelphia Inquirer (Philadelphia Media Holdings)
- · “Silver Linings Playbook (2012)". Box Office Mojo. IMDb.
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