Introducing the 26 in 26

A sport obsessed person's new years resolution

Happy New Year!

When I looked back at what I did in 2025, I realized that I saw these venues for the first time:

1. (then) Wells Fargo Center - Philadelphia, PA
2. SHI Stadium - Piscataway, NJ
3. Owen T. Carroll Field - South Orange, NJ
4. ShoreTown Ballpark - Lakewood, NJ
5. Maimonides Park - Brooklyn, NY
6. Heritage Financial Park - Wappingers Falls, NY
7. Coca-Cola Park - Allentown, PA
8. Hinchliffe Stadium - Paterson, NJ
9. Yankee Stadium - (The) Bronx, NY
10. SIUH Community Park - Staten Island, NY
11. Trenton Thunder Ballpark - Trenton, NJ
12. FirstEnergy Stadium - Reading, PA
13. PNC Field - Moosic, PA
14. Sports Illustrated Stadium - Harrison, NJ
15. Middletown Sports Complex - Middletown, NJ
16. MSU Soccer Park at Pittser Field - Montclair, NJ
17. PPL Center - Allentown, PA
18. Myslik Field at Roberts Stadium - Princeton, NJ
19. Powers Field at Princeton Stadium - Princeton, NJ
20. Hobey Baker Rink - Princeton, NJ
21. Jersey Mike's Arena - Piscataway, NJ
22. Jadwin Gymnasium - Princeton, NJ
23. Martire Family Arena - Fairfield, CT

In addition, I saw these teams/events for the first time (at places I'd been to before):

• New York Sirens
• Boston Fleet
• MLW Wiffle Ball
• Banana Ball
• Brooklyn FC

That is a surprising amount of new experiences looking back...but today, I want to look forward.

I've decided that my goal for this year is to see action at at least 26 new venues. I do not know what that will look like, but I'd like to try and do it.

I've had this idea for several months now, and it's evolved over time. For example, I was originally going to have it be "teams and/or venues", but in planning some of the games I want to go to in the coming months, I felt that it would be best to limit this to venues as on some level, a new team in an old venue didn't feel "right" to me (case in point: my plans include a few new teams in stadiums I've been to before, so I won't really have much to discuss regarding the venues themselves).

The biggest challenge in trying to do this: I'm running out of places to go. I've seen most of the "major" venues that are close to me already, and the few that I haven't don't quite come close to 26.

That's why I'm thinking a bit BIG for this.

Inasmuch as my big Australia/Japan trip to (finally) watch the AFL and NPB would help this IMMENSELY, I'm not ready for that yet. Of course, whether or not some the "big" plans I have will happen are yet to be seen, but hopefully things do happen (though one trip that will require a flight is already on my docket, and I have STRONG thoughts about a second one).

A list of all the new visits will be available on the main page of this blog soon, and this list will be updated throughout the year to reflect the places I visit (because you already know I'm going to be writing about them). There is a chance I could overshoot this (based on the trips and dates in my calendar/drafts so far), but we'll get more into that if the possibility arises...

P.S.: For any stat nerds out there, I crunched the numbers, and the teams I visited last year finished with a 20-18-1 record. This does not include any time a team that was featured on this blog appeared as a visiting team (which happened a few times), nor does it get into the weeds of MLS Next Pro's draw/shootout rules with Red Bull New York II - a situation which also happens in college hockey, but one I managed to avoid this year.