Editor’s Note: This story was included in The Athletic’s Best of 2019. See the full list.



If you’re driving on I-95 outside of Philadelphia, take exit four. The off-ramp to Route 322 forms a long, winding loop. Head toward that loop and you’ll see a bird’s-eye view of your surroundings from some 60 feet up; the Philadelphia skyline off in the distance, the steel-and-glass signature of a city in the midst of a renaissance. That view is framed by a mish-mash of oak and cedar trees, smokestacks and church steeples, all sprawling to the banks of the Delaware River. Drive a bit further and the hulking framework of the Commodore Barry Bridge comes into view, pointing the way to New Jersey.



But if you bear right and take the exit to the Chester waterfront, Talen Energy Stadium — the home of the Philadelphia Union for the past decade — soon appears underneath you. It feels like you’re landing on top of the place as you...