The Palestra

January 22, 2011
The Palestra (Capacity: 8,722)
Philadelphia, PA
Pennsylvania Quakers vs Saint Joseph’s Hawks
Final Score: 73 – 61

* The stadium was re-visited for a game on November 15, 2015

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A year after visiting Saint Joseph’s arena on a bitterly cold January Saturday, I made the return to Philadelphia on a similarly frigid day to see their rival, the University of Pennsylvania in their historic arena. Penn is a prestigious university, a member of the Ivy League and the fourth oldest college in the country with degrees offered in a vast amount of fields and a ton of research going on. The Quakers basketball team has been very successful, even before their Ivy days. The 1970s was the pinnacle for the program with several NCAA tournament appearances, wins and even a trip to the Final Four in 1979. They have won 26 Ivy League championships, the last coming in 2007. However since that title, the team has struggled, unable to break .500. Since 1927, Penn has played in the “Cathedral of College Basketball”, The Palestra. This special place has hosted a significant number of basketball games (in addition to other sporting events) and along with being host to the University of Pennsylvania, it is also home to several local games. A renovation in 2000, helped to enhance the building, but still maintain its discernable features. While my first visit was against a heated rival, I also came back a few years later to see Penn take on a pedestrian opponent on a Sunday afternoon. The Palestra is unlike most arenas nowadays and it provides a remarkably intimate and historic setting for college basketball.
Prestige Ranking: 5 out of 5

Location

Penn is located in the University City section of West Philadelphia along the Schuylkill River just outside of downtown (Center City). It’s a unique section in that you have two major Universities right next to each other as Drexel bumps up with Penn. The location is terrific in that Center City is nearby and you can make the long walk into it if you are fit. Philly has plenty of historical attractions that are well worth a visit. Meanwhile, closer to the arena, Penn is a great campus to wonder and there is also the Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology across from the football stadium. Five minutes away at the corner of 34th and Walnut are several restaurants.
Location Ranking: 9.5 out of 10

Accessibility / Parking

I-76 provides the best access and instead of using the school’s webpage directions of taking South Street, I opted to go through Drexel and use the easier Exit 345 and Market Street to get to the arena. Now parking is a chore and there are only a tiny number of spaces at the Palestra’s lot. Street parking is limited, however there are a couple of garages nearby and I decided to park at the garage/lot on 34th and Chestnut, which led to a short 7-minute walk to the arena. Getting out back onto Chestnut and then I-76 was a breeze and traffic was not bad. An alternative option is using SEPTA as the subway’s Market-Frankford Line has a station at 34th Street that is a 10-minute walk away. Be sure to have a map as directional signage from the station lacks and the blended-in arena can be hard to find.
Accessibility / Parking Ranking: 5.5 out of 8

Exterior

The facility is set back from 33rd Street and easily could be mistaken for any other campus building. The Palestra’s brown-brick exterior has a rectangular shape and a flat front. At the very top, it’s hard to make out the inscribed letterings that say “University of Pennsylvania – The Palestra”. There are arched windows on the building, but they seem blacked out as you can’t see anything on the inside. The Palestra has such a subtle, unimposing look and it’s hard to imagine the magic that goes on inside.
Exterior Ranking: 5 out of 10

Concourse

The main entranceway features a small, movie-theatre like ticket booth in front and it is an area that often has lines going outside given the small space. Past there, the concourse surrounding the arena follows the same exterior rectangular shape. The white brick and and tight halls give it a distinct old High School building feel. Of course, this small space will get very crowded when there are a lot of fans in the building. With it being hallway-like you can expect struggles in maneuvering about. The good news is that the concourse is basically a history museum and it features a terrific depiction of all things Palestra related. I spent 45 minutes before the game looking at everything.
Concourse Ranking: 2 out of 5

Food

A few more food items were added to the concession stands when I returned four years later, but it’s generally the same blah assortment. Veggie Wraps along with a Chickie and Pete’s stand enhanced the generic hot dogs, pizza and burgers that were offered. I was really disappointed in my soft pretzel, which I thought being in Philadelphia, it would have been good. Instead I got a luke-warm and blah version. They took away the Bassett’s Ice Cream stand, which served a good treat.
Food Ranking: 3 out of 8

Interior

The inside of The Palestra oozes history as you can just feel the aura of all the basketball games played here when you walk in. It’s a refreshing blast to the past where not a single luxury suite can be found and it is nothing but simplicity here. The design features a seating bowl that is in a strict rectangle with only the corner sections coming in angled, meaning that not all seats have the best alignment to the court. Below are four separate, retractable sections that are spaced apart with open corners. This used to be enclosed before renovations were done. The lower sideline seats have blue chairs to them, while the ends are bleachers reserved mainly for standing student sections and the bands. These are red with “Penn” spelled in blue lettering. Higher up, nothing’s really changed from the old days as you are packed in like sardines. Bleachers have seat numbers that force you to sit right on top of the person next to and in front of you. Countering the wonderful nostalgic feel is that this is not a comfortable place to watch a game. The roof features arcing, exposed berms and I’m guessing the design or material has something to do with the loud noise. At night, the lighting is disproportionate as it is quite dark in the end seating. This doesn’t apply during the day as a lot of natural light is let in. An additional press row is actually placed at the top of the seating on one side and the red box that holds it, has “The Palestra” spelled out in large letters. One of the more striking things about this arena is how remarkably intimate it is for 8,722 fans. Every seat seems close and the capacity is surprising when you see the box-like set up empty. However, to get the closer view, fans sacrifice comfort with the cramped bleacher seat.
Interior Ranking: 8.5 out of 14

Scoreboard

There is no center scoreboard at The Palestra and it would seem wrong to have one here as it looks natural without one. On a platform set above one end is a video screen high up on the end. I was worried the addition of video would diminish the special, old-schoolness of the building, but it was not obtrusive at all. The clarity is exceptional and the use of it as a stats board or for video is perfect. At the other end, is a smaller dot-matrix scoreboard that features game information.
Scoreboard Ranking: 3.5 out of 4

Displays

The area around the concourse is a history museum with each hallway having a theme: Pennsylvania basketball, the Big 5, the Ivy League and player appearances/performances. The walls feature murals, display cases, descriptions and pictures of the amazing history in the building. I especially loved reading up on Penn’s 1979 Final Four run. As described earlier, The banners hanging from the roof above the court help to compliment that history, they just seemed jumbled and hard to follow. All of Pennsylvania’s achievements are in red and blue as these have their Ivy League title and year on them along with any NCAA achievements. There’s many, so some are hidden behind a couple rows of banners and occasionally a little tough to read. Centered between these banners is the 1979 one, where they reached the Final Four. Wrestling and Women’s basketball achievements are also displayed in the rafters.
Displays Ranking: 6 out of 6

Cost

Ticket prices have gone up more than they should as they now cost $20 – $25 for a Penn game. (with a few dollars off if bought in advance). The seats with backs go for $40. These are the costs for a regular game, however if Penn is playing a Big 5 contest or facing Princeton, expect an increase. It’s not crazy given the building history and urban location, but it certainly is out of whack with comparable Ivy League teams. Food prices are on the high end as well ($4 for a pretzel and $4 for a water), while the parking garage is well into double-figures. Despite the price, I would probably drop $100 just to see a game in this magical place one time.
Cost Ranking: 5 out of 8

Fan Support

Fans are supportive and though attendance does not reach anything close to capacity during non-rival games, they still draw very well for the caliber of team and conference. Penn typically averages between 2,500 and 3,500 for an announced attendance, even in recent down years. This is good for tops in the Ivy. However, it has been rare to completely pack the place when the Big 5 is not involved. When the team was winning earlier in the 2000s, attendance was higher and even near capacity for some games. The two games I’ve seen here were wildly different circumstances as the first was sold out and the second (a non-conference Sunday game in November) featured a crowd that numbered under 1,000 people.
Fan Support Ranking: 5.5 out of 8

Atmosphere

The atmosphere can vary dramatically and let’s start with what it was like for a Big 5 game: It’s hard to match anything like it as you have fan bases nearly split in half in terms of who they are cheering for. I would say it was about 60% Penn fans and 40% for Saint Joe’s, though the Hawks had more students in their section. It was intense and very loud despite the win-loss records of each team. During this game, I got to see a couple cool Big 5 traditions: Student sections have “roll-outs”, which are long, cleverly funny insults that are rolled out on brown paper across the section for the other end to see. Secondly, streamers were thrown at the end of the Penn victory. As for Penn fans, they chanted “Let’s Go Quakers” and at the end of the game, sang their fight song.

My next visit was for an early season contest against Central Connecticut State as the Quakers looked to have a promising start to the season and break their long Ivy title drought. Despite the vast number of empty seats, I had a better opportunity during this game to appreciate how much the noise reverberates in The Palestra. It was staggering and when the pep band was playing, it was hard to hear myself talk. In all the places I’ve been, I’ve yet to encounter noise being kept in like that. The fans that were there had more energy than a lot of low-major teams and their enthusiasm/cheering as Penn neared victory was great.
Atmosphere Ranking: 11.5 out of 14

Other Stuff

The Big 5 is an unofficial conference featuring Division I schools from the Philadelphia area. It is a historical group of teams including La Salle, Pennsylvania, Saint Joseph’s, Temple and Villanova and these teams play each other once a year (Drexel also plays in the city, but for some reason is not included). As the saying goes, “They say there is no real prize for winning the Big Five. They must not be from Philly.”…There are rumors of ghosts inside The Palestra and a couple of my pictures showed up with some pretty interesting looking orbs.

Game (Initial Visit)

The game was a very well-played, entertaining affair. Through the first half, it was back and forth with several lead changes. After halftime, the game remained close until Tyler Bernardini helped to push the Penn lead out to five as he scored seven quick points. The Quakers held the Hawks without a field goal for seven minutes and used a late 11-3 run to pull away and end up winning by 12. Bernardini finished with 27 points, while Jack Eggleston had 15 boards. Penn also had 10 steals.

Stadium Experience Ranking: 70 out of 100