May 29, 2026
Colleen Claggett/for PhillyVoice
Stateside Live! at the Sports Complex in South Philadelphia completed a $20 million renovation. The expanded venue now has outdoor spaces including a concert stage, rooftop bar, beer garden and fan plaza.
After nearly two years of planning and construction, Stateside Live! got a perfect, sunny Friday to unveil the $20 million renovation of the entertainment hub at the Sports Complex in South Philly.
The revamped venue at the corner of 11th Street and Pattison Avenue features a new rooftop bar, outdoor beer garden, fan plaza and concert stage.
MORE: Apple Cinemas scraps plans to reopen movie theater at South Philly's Riverview Plaza
The project, led by Comcast Spectacor and the Cordish Companies, adds 48,000 square feet of outdoor space to complement the sports bars and restaurants inside. A weekend-long grand opening of the new spaces kicked off Friday night with free performances on the new Coors Light Stage by emo and pop punk bands Taking Back Sunday, Mayday Parade and Bayside.
The new Coors Light Stage at Stateside Live! has a capacity of 5,000 for performances.
The combined indoor and outdoor venue now has capacity for 9,000 people. Planners developed the site with the goal of creating different pockets of amenities and experiences for people to enjoy. The whole venue is free to enter and roam, with big screens available in various sections for people to watch games.
"Everything we're doing is part of the stadium district — and just keep growing," David Cordish, CEO and Chairman of the Cordish Companies, said before the concert.
The renovation of Stateside Live! was spurred by the vision of making the venue more of an everyday spot for sports, live music and private events.
"We're building the foundational blocks to something very special," said Dan Hilftery, chairman and CEO of Comcast Spectator.
A view of AVA Rooftop Bar and the PBR Backyard from the fan plaza at Stateside Live!
Hilferty described the Stateside Live! expansion as "phase one" before the planned construction of a new Flyers and Sixers arena on the parking lot where the Spectrum once stood, behind the new concert stage. The arena, a joint venture between the teams, is projected to open in the spring of 2030 when Philly's new WNBA team makes its debut.
"When we think about the potential down the road with a new arena, we felt really good about developing this site as a place where people could come, whether it's a game day or a concert day — any time of the year," Hilferty said. "We see this as a real opportunity to make this a magnet in this region."
The new PBR Backyard is an extension of the indoor bar that's viewed as a pregame hangout. The space has rentable areas for parties and VIP events along with a small stage where country music artists will be booked to perform.
A view of the PBR Backyard from the second level of the AVA Rooftop Bar.
The PBR Backyard is an extension of the indoor bar with a small area for live country music performances.
PBR Backyard shares space with the lower level of the new AVA Rooftop Bar, which has full service bars on both floors. The second level has lounge furniture, tables and a terrace looking down onto the concert stage and fan plaza. The venue offers bottle service, a menu of shareable food and cocktails, and VIP booking for concert nights and private parties.
AVA Rooftop Bar offers bottle service in VIP areas and a menu of cocktails and shareable food.
A lounge area at the AVA Rooftop Bar offers a view of Lincoln Financial Field.
The view from AVA Rooftop Bar looks out at Xfinity Mobile Arena.
AVA Rooftop Bar at Stateside Live! has private areas available for booking parties.
On the lower level, the fan plaza surrounding the stage includes the new Blue Moon Beer Garden and Stateside Crush Bar, which will debut later in the weekend. The plaza will host food trucks and festivals throughout the year. On days and nights when concerts aren't scheduled, lawn games will be available in front of the stage.
Blue Moon Beer Garden sits on the fan plaza surrounding the Coors Light Stage.
Future dates planned at the Coors Light Stage include performances by Knocked Loose, Fetty Wap and country artist Lee Brice.
"The idea of the program is to really try a lot of things and have a balance of all genres to see what sticks," said Chris Furst, vice president of strategic programming at the Cordish Companies.
Adding a small concert venue to Stateside Live! was a crucial piece of the renovation plan.
"One of the things we were able to identify is there's a hole in the market for a five-to-six thousand (capacity) live performance stage," Cordish said. "That's what this brings, and it complements the stadiums."
A view of the Coors Light Stage from the second level of AVA Rooftop Bar.
A new 'Philly' sculpture outside Stateside Live! is built on a foundation of brick preserved from the former Spectrum arena.
As a tribute to the history of the Sports Complex, a climbable sculpture that spells "Philly" was built outside the fan plaza atop salvaged brick from the original Spectrum site.
"Nobody else in the United States was smart enough — except Philadelphia – to put all four teams on one parking lot," Cordish said. "Not New York. Not Chicago. Not L.A. This is our anchor, and there's no question that the new arena will be the number one arena in the United States."
Stateside Live!, formerly called Xfinity Live!, opened in 2012. The development traces back to the late Ed Snider's ownership of the Flyers and 76ers at the Spectrum. Snider's company, Spectacor, merged with Comcast in the 1990s and later joined forces with the Cordish Companies in 2008. The Baltimore-based firm owns and operates entertainment districts and casinos around the world, including the Live! Casino & Hotel Philadelphia at the Sports Complex.
The indoor portion of Stateside Live! will continue operating with the Live! Arena, 1100 Social, Miller Time Beer Hall and restaurants including Chickie's & Pete's, Geno's Steaks and Lorenzo & Sons Pizza.
Hilferty said the Sports Complex is on the cusp of a major transformation. He praised Gov. Shapiro's commitment for PennDOT to invest $30 million in projects that will improve traffic congestion at the Sports Complex. He said all four major teams stood together to vouch for upgraded transportation logistics that will alleviate gridlock getting to and from the Sports Complex.
"It sets the stage for real, constructive conversations between four franchises, Cordish and our partners in government," Hilferty said. "I think it's going to be an emerging piece of art."
