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Going on a Hard Hat, Lunch Pail Tour of the Stateside Live! Expansion: Part 2

By Matt Schultz

Published: May 20th, 2026 · 4:49 PM EDT

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A few weeks ago, Kinkead went to check out the expansion at Stateside Live! I didn’t go. I held down the fort. I tended to the blogs.

But Wednesday, ahead of next weekend’s grand opening, it was my turn to answer the call. Here’s what the outside looks like currently:

The AVA Rooftop bar was the headliner. Here’s how the official press release describes the space:

AVA Rooftop Bar
A two-story, open-air rooftop lounge positioned at the heart of the plaza, offering unobstructed views over the stadium district. AVA transitions seamlessly from daytime social gatherings and sunset cocktails to DJ-driven nightlife on weekends and Sunday day parties. With an elevated menu, craft cocktail program, and curated bottle service experience, AVA introduces a rooftop lounge concept to South Philadelphia that rivals the city’s top downtown destinations. AVA will offer a crowd-pleasing food menu featuring elevated bites and fan favorites including Parmesan Herb Fries, Spicy Tuna Tacos, Lobster Rolls and Braised Short Rib Sliders. This will be the third location for AVA, joining their indoor-outdoor venue near the entrance to the St. Louis Cardinals’ Busch Stadium and their rooftop in Cary, NC.

The press release was spot on! Definitely delivers on the promise — I thought this bar was sick:

After you walk up the stairs, the first thing you see is this cool wrap-around bar and a bartender who I don’t think was prepared for a photo. My bad.

Besides the bar in the center of the room, there’s soft seating all around the perimeter — high tables, lower couches, recliner-type seats — pretty much any kind of sitting option you can think of, this place has it. The space is super-open, and with it being on a roof/high up, there’s a pleasant breeze rolling in pretty much non-stop. That breeze was really great. Even in today’s heat, it was super comfortable up there. Felt like vacation. Florida-ass breeze. I overheard someone else on the tour say, “This breeze is glorious,” and it truly was.

Second angle of the wrap-around bar with some sick-looking drinks in the middle there. I took a closer-up photo of the drinks — it’s a little further down in this blog. It’s not a good picture. My worst one of the day, in my opinion.

Nice couches. New-looking. Firm.

I took a picture of this because I think this tile is great. The tile with the wood combo here? This is a good combo. Now, I’m no designer. I don’t really know what I’m talking about — but I do know what I like, and my two cents is: I thought the design of the whole place was very cool. Lot of wood, lot of grass/leaves on the walls, lot of open space, lot of cool light fixtures.

Big-ass lamp head. Fan of this.

The AVA Rooftop head chef served up some of the food they’ll be offering, and he described the menu as “elevated ballpark food,” no forks necessary. Think that’s an apt description. All this stuff looked great.

This is the worst pic I took. Mentioned it earlier in this blog, it’s not a very good photo. The drinks looked cooler in real life. I didn’t do the drinks justice.

I thought this was pretty sweet; the AVA rooftop tables overlook the Coors Light Stage, which is going to have some exciting acts rolling through all summer, according to the Stateside Live! folks. Taking Back Sunday is playing a free show here May 29th to kick off the opening of the new spaces, and I was smiling thinking about watching TBS from this vantage point. Imagine it: You’re sitting in a comfortable chair way above the chaos of the push pit, drinking a cool-colored, purplish cocktail, eating wagyu meatballs, silently mouthing the lyrics to You’re So Last Summer while chewing. That’s living. That’s a nice thought. I’d like to do this.

This stage may be my favorite part of the whole expansion project. It looks awesome. It’s the perfect size for a medium-big show. Here’s how it’s described in the press release:

Coors Light Stage
A state-of-the-art outdoor performance stage with capacity for up to 5,000 attendees, including 1,000 premium seats, positioned at the center of the plaza with groundbreaking audio and lighting production. The stage will host a full lineup of local, regional and national acts throughout summer and fall 2026, alongside festivals, community events, and broadcast watch parties on the accompanying LED screen system. It is the largest purpose-built outdoor entertainment stages within the Sports Complex.

The Stateside Live! guys mentioned they’ll be hosting watch events here for big Philly sports games, and that has me pretty hyped. Apparently there will be pyrotechnics for Birds’ touchdowns. Now that is an exciting idea. Bunch of fire blasting out of a 10,000 inch TV after a DeVonta Smith toe tap tuddy. As good as it gets.

Last, we saw this impressively big Philly sculpture. Pretty cool piece. We were told we could sit on it if we wanted. I chose not to. Too hot to be climbing around for me. But I vow to sit on it in the future.

And that was the end of the tour. All in all, I’m really impressed by what Stateside Live! is doing down there. I think the rooftop bar and concert space are going to be big hits — not just for folks hanging out before and after games, either. Comcast-Spectacor and The Cordish Companies envision this as a place people can come hang out seven days a week, and I think they’re spot on. After hearing about these updates for a while now, it was exciting to see it all come together.

That’s the end of the blog. If you want to stop reading here, you can.

…But for the real heads out there who are still reading, thanks for sticking around. To show my gratitude, I will show you Four Bonus Pictures I took today that I found interesting:

Four Bonus Pictures:

Small tent. Never seen a tent this small.

Here’s a normal-sized guy standing next to the tent, for scale.

Skinny TV. Look how skinny it is. Pretty interesting to see a TV that shape.

This was some kind of camera. Pretty cool little camera this guy had.

That’s all the bonus photos for now. Thanks for reading this far. Thanks Stateside Live! for the tour. Excited to get down there and hang out starting May 29th.