Stateside Live!’s $20 million renovation brings a beer garden and rooftop bar to the Sports Complex
Starting May 29, Stateside Live! will be home to the two-story rooftop lounge AVA, plus a 5,000-capacity concert venue, and a beer garden.
Imagine watching a Phillies game while sipping a caviar-topped martini on a rooftop bar overlooking South Philly’s Sports Complex.
That‘s about to be a reality when the newly-transformed Stateside Live! complex reopens Friday, May 29, fresh off a more than $20 million renovation that brings two outdoor stages, a beer garden, and — yes — an upscale rooftop lounge.
The move is part of a more than $2.5 billion plan — helmed by Comcast Spectacor — to transform the Sports Complex’s array of parking lots into a year-round destination for work and play.
The vision, announced in 2024 after the failed attempt to move the Sixers’ arena to Chinatown, includes a 250-room hotel, an outdoor plaza, and retail space. It’s also been complicated by plans for a a new stadium for the Flyers, Sixers, and Philly’s forthcoming WNBA team by 2030, located roughly where the Spectrum used to stand.
The Sports Complex’s transformation began in earnest in Aug. 2025 when local spirits brand Stateside announced it acquired the naming rights to Xfinity Live! in a 15-year-deal. In the months since, the space was re-wrapped in branding for the company’s Surfside line of hard seltzers — one of the fastest growing alcohol brands in the U.S, and coincidentally, the best-selling spirit down the street at Citizens Bank Park.
“Today [Stateside Live!] really takes on a new role,” said Comcast Spectator Chief Operating Officer Phil Laws during a walkthrough of the space on Wednesday while crews wrapped up construction. It “becomes a destination in and of itself, and it will forge a its own ... identity as a place to visit, no matter what’s going on at the other venues.”
The main attraction at the revamped Stateside Live! is AVA, a two-story restaurant with 200 seats between a downstairs lounge and rooftop bar with panoramic views of — well — parking lots. AVA will serve “elevated stadium bites,” said Joe Shirley, the Associate Vice President of Culinary Operations at Live! Hospitality & Entertainment, which also owns the Live! Casino & Hotel at 900 Packer Ave. AVA will also offer bottle service alongside a curated menu of craft cocktails made with Stateside vodka.
South Philly’s AVA will become the company’s flagship with the largest food and drink menu, said Shirley. The brand’s first location in Cary, N.C., only serves cocktails, while its location inside the Ballpark Village at Busch Stadium in St. Louis, Mo. has a limited food menu.
Their location inside Stateside Live! will include a menu of 12 shareable plates that range from $8 to $32 and include a trio of mini Maine-style lobster rolls on brioche buns; a little gem Caesar salad with big husks of lettuce that Shirley recommends you eat like a taco; wagyu meatballs with ricotta; and a pepperoni French bread pizza, served on a Lisco’s roll and drizzled with hot honey.
AVA’s star, however, is an exclusive-to-Philly $25 Dirty Luxe ‘Tini, which is shaken tableside. Caviar oozes out of the blue-cheese-stuffed olives that come as a garnish. The rest of the drink menu includes a lavender Hugo spritz, and orange creamsicle crush, as well as several martinis and non-alcoholic options.
Shirely and Emily Lenderman, the beverage director for Live!, hope to establish AVA as a post-work happy hour destination in South Philly or place for date nights, regardless of if there’s a game or concert nearby. Success means “getting guests seven days a week,” said Lenderman.
A new 5,000-person capacity concert venue
The renovations to Stateside Live! will also bring the Coors Light Stage to South Philly, a 5,000-person capacity outdoor concert venue adjacent to AVA. For their grand opening, the stage will host a free concert from pop punk bands Taking Back Sunday, Mayday Parade, and Bayside on Friday, May 29, followed by show from DJ duo Two Friends on Saturday, May 30.
The stage will simulcast Eagles, Sixers, Flyers, and Phillies games on three large screens, and will also host a mix of local and national performers with an emphasis on DJs and full bands, said Jason Roy, the director of entertainment for Live!
During Wednesday’s walkthrough, Roy told The Inquirer that he doesn’t view the Coors Light Stage as a competitor with Philly’s other mid-sized music venues such as the Met or Franklin Music Hall, since its the only outdoor venue of its capacity. So far, its summertime lineup includes the return of Fetty Wap on Aug. 20 and country crooner Lee Brice on Sept. 17. All ticketed shows will end around 10 p.m., Roy said.
Stateside Live! also has a second smaller stage at the new PBR Backyard, which roughly doubles the size of the venue’s PBR-branded honky tonk bar. There, Roy envisions performances from cover bands and acoustic sets from marquee country performers, at one point joking about Morgan Wallen taking the stage after his July 31 concert at Lincoln Financial Field.
Other renovations include the Blue Moon-branded beer garden and the Stateside Crush Bar, which serves a menu of 10 crushes — and two giant fish bowls — made with fresh fruit juice and Stateside vodka.
