Women’s soccer experience eventful
I’ve never been to Heinz field and, quite frankly, had no plans to attend a sport event there (no offense to the Steelers) until Sunday when the U.S. Women’s National Soccer Team started their victory tour in Pittsburgh playing a friendly against Costa Rica in their first match back since winning their third FIFA Women’s World Cup last month.
The event was actually a birthday present for our daughter as we ended up being part of a record crowd of 44,000. It was the most to attend a soccer game of any type in Pittsburgh, and also a record for a stand-alone women’s friendly in the U.S.
I purchased tickets from Ticketmaster the first day they went on sale. I thought it would go pretty smooth, but then again what does?
The thing that bothers me most is the website gives you several minutes to decide on a choice it selects as the best available seat in the section you are looking for.
Calling didn’t get me anywhere, as the usual voice automation came on stating representatives were experiencing heavy call volume to try again later. After studying the seating chart and making a few phone calls to Heinz Field, I learned where the best views were, but later found out my tickets were not as close to midfield as I would have liked.
Planning for traffic was the next factor, which is the case for any event in Pittsburgh. What is usually a one-hour trip turned into two-and-half hours of driving, parking and walking three blocks to get to the stadium.
As we started our trek, the heat from the pavement felt like I was walking on hot coals as the sun continued to beat down. Once inside the gate, things weren’t much better until I found my seats were on club level, just steps away from a climate controlled lounge with flat-screen televisions and its own bar. (I don’t recall this amenity 30 some years ago).
Just as halftime approached, my daughter wanted pizza, which ended up being on the floor below. By this time, we were meandering through thousands of people all with the same goal, to get their food as fast as possible and get back to their seats before the second half of the game.
Needless to say, that didn’t happen as we stood in line for at least 30 minutes so we tried to watch the game from one of the TV’s above the concession stands.
At that point, Pittsburgh native and starting defender Meghan Klingenberg scored and she celebrated by waving a Terrible Towel with the U.S. going on to win 8-0. And, of course we weren’t in our seats.
Although the experience was a rare opportunity, coincidentally, we managed to see other parents and players from Connellsville soccer teams as well as from our daughter’s club team.