LIVESTRONG Sporting Park will be a spectacular setting for the final game of the eleven-day trip when Tony Pulis’ side take on Major League Soccer side Sporting Kansas City.
As part of the excellent hospitality which the Potters have received since they arrived in Kansas City earlier this week on the third leg of their United States tour, stokecityfc.com were given a look behind the scenes of the stadium which has won so many accolades.
Although the capacity of the stadium is only 18,467, the whole experience is one to be enjoyed whether you are a player or a supporter and that resulted in it being voted the Venue of the Year in its particular category at The Stadium Business Awards earlier this year.
In fact, LIVESTRONG Sporting Park was also in the running for the New Venue of the Year too, but was pipped by Brighton’s American Express Community Stadium.
The state-of-the-art facilities for players, officials and supporters alike made it stand out among some strong competition in the Best Venue category including Brighton’s ground and the Amway Centre in Orlando where the Potters were previously based last week.
Having been built two years ago, the stadium takes its name from cycling star Lance Armstrong’s LIVESTRONG Foundation following his battle with cancer.
This is a result of a partnership with the LIVESTRONG Foundation to which Sporting Kansas City will donate a proportion of revenues over the course of six years.
Among the thousands of blue seats stands out one yellow one, seat number seven in the hospitality area. Yellow is, of course, the colour of jersey which Armstrong wore so often and seven is the number of times that he won the Tour de France.
That seat is set aside for a special guest at each game who with the help of the Foundation has should great courage when faced with the fight against cancer.
Club Photographer Phil Greig was given the chance to snap away behind the scenes at LIVESTRONG Sporting Park and you can see his selection on Facebook, simply by clicking
HERE