Groundhopping Guide - Portland Hearts of Pine/Fitzpatrick Stadium

Philip Farrell
Jul 8
9 min read

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PORTLAND, ME --- In April of 2026, I travelled with two friends to see the Portland Hearts of Pine’s home opener of that season, hosting One Knoxville SC in USL League One. I had been keen to see this club play at home since witnessing its impressive away support all the way down South during its 2025 maiden season, and after watching the superb documentary series Up the Hearts. I hope you enjoy this Groundhopper’s Guide to the Hearts of Pine, its stadium, and its city.

Key Facts

Stadium and Club History

Fitzpatrick Stadium opened in the fall of 1931 and for most of its nearly 100-year history, has been home to the Portland High School Bulldogs who still play there today. It was simply called ‘Portland Stadium’ until 1986 when it was renamed in honor of James J. Fitzpatrick, a legendary local sports figure who coached the Bulldogs’ football, baseball, basketball, and golf teams for over forty years. As well as football, the stadium was the home of minor league baseball’s Portland Pilots, a Philadelphia Phillies affiliate, that called it home from 1946 to 1949. In late 2023, the Portland city council approved a 10-year lease for a new soccer team, the Hearts of Pine, who would pay over $1 million to improve the facility, and receive free rent in exchange.

This brings us to the birth of Portland Hearts of Pine. The brainchild of former St Louis FC player Gabe Hoffman-Johnson who moved to Portland in middle school. The club quickly gained financial support from a number of local business interests and media personalities. Before a ball had been kicked, it had sold 96% of its season ticket deposits in 2024, setting a USL League One record. That carried over to its 2025 inaugural season when the club sold out Fitzpatrick for its debut home game against One Knoxville. Last year was the Hearts’ first season, and with an average of 5,829 fans at home games, it went all the way to the USL League One Semi-Finals and the Third Round of the Open Cup, defeating USL Championship team Hartford Athletic along the way. An incredible story, if only yet a short one.

Hearts represent the next step in the history of the beautiful game in the region. That history stretches as far back as 1887, when the first recorded game of soccer was played at Rodick House in nearby Bar Harbor. As early as 1924, the Portland Soccer Club was winning the State of Maine League. The game was carried by the public school system until 2009 when the GPS Portland Phoenix played for ten years in USL League Two. In the same year as the Hearts of Pine was founded, a women’s side, Maine Footy, began play in the United Women’s Soccer (UWS) league.

The Locale

Portland is the largest city in the Pine Tree State of Maine. With an urban population of just over 200,000; its small size and dense downtown area make it a great place to visit for sports. European settlers, displacing native Abenaki communities, settled the Casco Bay coast in the early 1600s. Portland itself was incorporated in the late 1700s after the area saw some action in the Revolutionary War and the city witnessed one of the northernmost battles of the Civil War (a naval engagement in June 1863). Today, the Old Port area bustles with the charm and architecture of an old seafaring community and is stacked with bars, restaurants, and boutique shops. The Bayside Area has been regenerated into a trendy home for breweries and cafes. The University of Southern Maine, University of New England, and Northeastern University have campuses in the city, and the whole place boasts a friendly vibe, surrounded by history but edgy at the same time.

Fitzpatrick Stadium itself sits in the Valley Street area on the western fringe of the city, but on the downtown-side of I-295. Nestled between the interstate to its north, Deering Park to its east, and Hadlock Field baseball stadium immediately to its west; it's a cosy ground, tucked into its spot. From what I could make out, there isn’t a tonne of bars and restaurants immediately beside the ground, so for pre- and post-gaming (see below) you’ll want to pick places a little farther afield. Mind you, these are all still walkable distances we’re talking about.

Tickets

This is the most important section you’ll read. Portland Hearts of Pine games are prone to selling out, and selling out fast. It was quite a scramble for us to get our tickets, given that it was opening day for the 2026 season. Go to www.heartsofpine.com/single-match-tickets/ for more information.

For this (2026) season; Single Match Tickets went on sale on March 2 and quickly sold out. There is a ‘Last Chance’ form you can fill out to get additional tickets or check out StubHub which is the club’s preferred secondary market. Otherwise, plan for 2027, sign up to the club’s newsletter and get in early for tickets. This club is popular!

The Portland Zoo should be your first stop when coming to this city for soccer. Photo credit - Philip Farrell

Pre-Gaming

We all love to choose our own adventure, but I think no soccer trip to Portland should begin without a visit to the Portland Zoo (41 Fox St). You won’t find wild animals here, just passionate American soccer fans. With a pleasant beer garden and great local selection, it's a fantastic place to catch that morning or afternoon’s Premier League action to start your day. I enjoyed a few cans of Portland Hearts of Pine Pale Ale from the local Bissell Brothers brewery. The Zoo also boasts great merch.

The East Bayside neighborhood of the Zoo is home to a slew of breweries. We sampled the wares at Austin Street Brewery (115 Fox St.) where we drank the Florens IPA and Patina Pale Ale and Orange Bike Brewing Company (31 Diamond St) where we had the Hazy IPA and English Special Bitter. But really, if you’re in the area, you can barely swing a dead cat without hitting a brewery.

For eats, my pals had sandwiches at Ramona’s (98 Washington Ave) and seemed happy with them, but again there’s no shortage of places to bite. I did note that the breweries offered less food than I’m used to in Tennessee. One exception was Batson River Brewing & Distilling (82 Hanover St) which is closer to the stadium, but had great food. I recommend the Carolina Mustard BBQ wings

If you do find yourself in the Old Port for pre-gaming, then I’ll recommend Andy’s Old Port Pub (94 Commercial St) which is also soccer friendly and has 18 local beers on draft. Around Andy’s there’s no shortage of other bars and restaurants to trek to.

If you’re looking to pick up some Hearts of Pine merchandise and want to avoid the lines at the stadium shop (see below), the club has a well stocked brick-and-mortar store at 65 Hanover St, just a 15-20 minute walk from the stadium.

The Hearts of Pine have a range of beverages released in collaboration with local breweries and distilleries. Photo credit - Philip Farrell

Getting to Fitzpatrick Stadium

If you’re staying or pre-gaming anywhere within urban Portland, Fitzpatrick Stadium will probably be walkable.

The city, like most others, has rideshare bicycles and scooters that enable quicker transit, just be wary of where you can park them.

Rideshare cars like Uber and Lyft are available but there are no dedicated rideshare lots. Drivers can use legal pull-off areas on Park Avenue, near the stadium’s entrance Gate A.

If you have your own bike, the stadium offers self-service bike parking across from Gate A, on the lawn at King Middle School (off Deering Avenue).

The Greater Portland METRO bus runs several services through the surrounding area, including Deering Avenue and Park Avenue. The closest public bus stop to the stadium is served by Route 5, which runs along Deering Avenue.

We walked to the stadium and Ubered back to Old Port.

Atmosphere

This is probably the best aspect of going to see the Portland Hearts of Pine. While the city is charming, the breweries and bars plentiful, and the urban landscape walkable; it is the game itself that will form the centerpiece of your trip. Suffice to say, the Portland Hearts of Pine is one of the most, if not the most, incredible atmospheres I’ve experienced at a pro soccer game in the United States. The buzz, the thronging crowd, the smoke, the flags, the songs, the wafting smell of delicious food…it felt like I’d been transported from this quaint New England city to a small German town with a Reigonalliga team. For a club that is so new, something felt so authentic about the whole experience. The buy-in from the community is palpable from the moment you enter Fitzpatrick Stadium. Keep your ears peeled especially during the 20 minutes leading up to kick-off when the place really drums. The tannoy will play ‘Ballad of the 20th Maine’ and the whole crowd will sing, while raising their scarves. Many teams sometimes feel the same, the same chants, the same songs, the same everything. This one feels different.

The stadium itself offers something unique too. While a municipal ground with a running track, they use every part of it. There’s no end to interesting nooks and crannies from which to socialise, walk around, and watch the game. Part of the complex is slightly uphill, meaning you can watch the game from an elevated position amidst grass and trees. Is there anything else like this in pro soccer in the US?

Stadium Amenities

As I mentioned above, there is a brick-and-mortar club shop in the city which I’d recommend visiting before the game. There is a store at the stadium, but its counter service and the lines can get very long with stock sold out.

There’s plenty of interesting food options and fairly priced they are too. Pizza, empanadas, and little gyros were our fare during the game.

If you don’t like portable toilets, you might struggle. Toilet facilities are mostly, if not all, portaloos and they can incur long lines during halftime.

Post-gaming

If you’ve pre-gamed in Bayside, then I’d recommend dinner and post-game entertainment closer to the Old Port and Waterfront areas. There’s any number of good places to go. We checked out the aforementioned Andy’s, Rí Rá (72 Commercial St), and Commercial Street Pub (129 Commercial St) and all offered different, yet friendly vibes. We also checked out Portland Mash TUN (29 Wharf St) which had excellent lobster roll (because, of course) for really good value.

Making a Weekend of it

Portland is a walkable and pleasant city with plenty to do both in the urban area and further afield. Depending on the time of year you visit, the city boasts four other lower / minor league teams providing hallowed ‘double-header’ opportunities.

If you find yourself in Portland during the summer months, then Maine Footy, the United Women’s Soccer team plays at Memorial Stadium. The Portland Sea Dogs are the city’s baseball team, playing out of Hadlock Field which sits right next door to Fitzpatrick Stadium. The Sea Dogs are the Double-A affiliate of the Boston Red Sox and compete in the Eastern League. Next to both Hadlock and Fitzpatrick is the historic Portland Expo Building (circa 1915), home of the Maine Celtics. The Celtics are the NBA G League affiliate of the Boston Celtics. Further toward Old Port, you’ll find Cross Insurance Arena where the Maine Mariners of the ECHL ply their trade. They’re affiliated to the Boston Bruins. We managed to catch a Sea Dogs and a Mariners game during our trip to Portland.

Why not take in a ball game too? Photo credit - Philip Farrell

There’s plenty of local history and culture for rainy days. The city boasts a Museum of Art, a Children’s Museum, the Portland Head Light and Museum, a Narrow Gauge Railroad Museum, and the Maine Historical Society Museum. All are walkable or a short cab ride away. If you feel like going out on the water, there are ferry services to Peak’s Island and other isles in the Casco Bay that leave at regular intervals.

If you’ve rented a car, there’s plenty of out-of-town excursions nearby like Falmouth, Cape Elizabeth, and Kennebunkport offering everything from beaches, to lighthouses, to hiking.

Conclusion

Portland is a groundhopper’s dream. While a new team, there’s an authenticity to the club that sets it apart from most others you’ll see. The sell-out crowds, the local pride, the rustic stadium experience --- it offers something others don’t. It's also fairly centrally located in a city that’s perfect for walking shoes with a huge collection of bars, restaurants, and good local breweries that won’t disappoint. There’s other teams to see and plenty of non-soccer things to do. My advice, get yourself there as soon as you can, and enjoy the lobster roll!