The US Men’s National Team made it out of the group of death and will be taking on a somewhat lackluster Belgium tomorrow afternoon. The hype space train is running at full steam, and with it a couple new watch parties popped up late last week. Here’s a quick run down of the “big 4” you’ll probably hear about.
The American Outlaws @ The Claddagh
The Pittsburgh chapter of the American Outlaws have been running kick ass parties from the start and aren’t letting up any time soon. The Claddagh has been packed wall to wall and rocking all during the group stage. You’ll want to get there early as it’s usually packed 90 minutes before the match. Though they did add some TV’s outside to help. If there’s one place to be The Claddagh is it.
Drink Specials: $2.50 drafts and probably some other things.
Food: Good luck getting anything once the game gets going.
The American Outlaws @ Latitude 360
The Latitude location was a late but welcome edition to this World Cup. After a slightly rocky first game it’s been a great place to watch a match. As my friend put it- it’s been comfortably packed, and watching on a 50 foot screen is awesome. You don’t need to get there as early as Claddagh, but it’s usually pretty full 30 minutes before kickoff.
Drink Specials: Happy hour pricing all game.
Food: $12 buffet with wings, BBQ meatballs, chips and salsa and queso dip, plus a $5.00 gaming card for the arcade.
City of Pittsburgh @ Market Square
Seeing images of giant outdoor watch parties across the nation is awesome to see and shows that soccer is here to stay. The City of Pittsburgh has decided to jump in on the action by setting up a screen in Market Square. If the Penguins have shown us anything the last few years (except how to choke), it’s that Pittsburgh loves its outdoor screens. There’s no admission cost and Mikey & Big Bob from KISS will be hosting it. It should be a cool experience. Hopefully next World Cup they’ll do it for the entire tournament, and maybe at Point State Park.
Drink Specials: Nope. This is a dry event though there are restaurants around to pop in for a quick one.
Food: Nothing as far as I know but again plenty of restaurants around.
Stage AE
Stage AE will be open (free admission) for a viewing party on their big screen as well. I’m not entirely clear if it’s indoor or outdoors. From what I’ve gathered the Steelers have a hand in this party, which makes sense as they have the Guinness Cup thing later in July to promote. Honestly I have no idea what this will be like, but since it has the marketing arm of Stage AE your friends will probably hear about it and ask you about it.
Drink Specials: There will be something.
Food Specials: There will be something.
We don’t really have a dog in the viewing party fight. Unfortunately the Riverhounds weren’t able to cut through the media rights red tape like these larger groups were able to. Otherwise we’d be down at Highmark Stadium. It sucks. The Hounds sure could use the attention a World Cup event would bring. Sadly things don’t always work out for the little guy. Oh well.
Many of our members are also in the American Outlaws so that’s where you’ll find most of us. In the end it doesn’t matter where you go to watch the match, just that you’re watching it somewhere. It’s been awesome to see how big this World Cup has been in the United States and how everyone is getting caught up in it. Just the fact that there’s now a number of watch party options in places like Pittsburgh shows that soccer has emerged from this kind of niche thing to a major force in the United States.
Come on you Yanks!
#IBELIEVE
#UNLEASH
