This was not on anybody’s bingo card: Officials with the Philadelphia 76ers revealed to Philadelphia city council members yesterday that they were turning their back on the planned arena adjacent to the city’s Chinatown that they had spent the last four years getting approved. Instead, the Sixers will be throwing in with their hated landlords, the Flyers-owning Comcast, on something at the teams’ current South Philly site, though what exactly and when remains a little unclear this morning:
After the Sixers announced their desire to leave South Philadelphia, Comcast Spectacor began aggressively courting them to stay in the stadium district. As part of their campaign, they revealed an ambitious and sprawling proposal for a $2.5 billion complete redevelopment of the area that would add thousands of apartments, restaurants, and more entertainment options.
And, with an “eventually” that is doing a lot of work:
Ryan Boyer, president of the Philadelphia Building & Construction Trades Council, told NBC10’s Lauren Mayk that instead, the team plans to demolish Wells Fargo Center and will eventually build a new arena in South Philadelphia for the Sixers and Flyers.
If the plan is for one combined arena in South Philly, this could end up a win-win all around: Philly taxpayers get out of the $96 million to 273 million in property tax breaks the city was planning to give Sixers owners Josh Harris and David Adelman for their new Market East arena, Chinatown residents escape the threat of arena-related redevelopment displacing part of their neighborhood, and the Sixers owners, Comcast, and the city as a whole escapes the likelihood of two competing arenas eventually driving one to shut down from lack of business. (Former Philly mayoral candidate and local power broker Sam Katz had previously said a second competing arena was “never privately financeable,” though it’s worth noting he was consulting for Comcast when he said that.) Major emphasis on “could,” though: One unnamed councilmember told the Philadelphia Inquirer that the Sixers still plan to move ahead with “some of” the Market East development, so there Harris and Adelman could yet end up having his tax breaks and eating them too. And when Comcast first announced plans for that arena district last March, the company hedged on whether it would require public money, which should have everyone on the lookout for an additional city funding ask.
For the moment, though, the only clear loser here is Comcast, which is looking at (maybe) having to demolish and replace an arena that it just spent $300 million on renovating, plus (definitely) going halfsies with its former tenants on ownership in order to keep them from setting up their own shingle. The obvious question is whether Harris and Adelman planned this all along: Was the entire Chinatown arena plan just for leverage to get Comcast to agree to new terms in South Philly? Did they fully intend to move, but were lured back by a sweeter offer from the Flyers owners? Or, as is so often the case, did they push ahead with new arena plans not knowing or caring how it would work out, but figuring that having another option in their pocket could only be to their benefit?
Whichever way, Philadelphia city officials who spent the last four years working with the Sixers owners on what turned out to be just a stalking horse are feeling played, because they were. At-large councilmember Jimmy Harrity has been especially vocal, telling the Inquirer that “I’m so livid right now I don’t even know what to do” and “I feel as though I was used as a pawn”; he told NBC Philadelphia, meanwhile, that “I feel completely bamboozled” and that he’s upset that city schools won’t get the proceeds from new taxes that the arena would bring — which doesn’t make any sense since the tax breaks the Sixers arena would have gotten were going to come out of the schools budget, but cut the man some slack, he’s bamboozled.
Chinatown activists, meanwhile, are ecstatic, saying in a statement that “the nightmare of a Center City Sixers arena will not haunt our city any more” and thanking citizens and elected officials who opposed the deal. In the end, though, it seems like public opposition to the plan was less important than corporate bigfooting — as we saw, for example, when Madison Square Garden’s owners killed the plan for a Manhattan New York Jets stadium, sometimes when elephants fight, the grass ends up being spared.
There are reports that Mayor Cherelle Parker plans to hold a press conference today at 11 am to address the unfolding situation, which hopefully will at least have better production values than her last one. For now, it looks like Philadelphia may have dodged a bullet, but let’s hold off on that assessment until the shooting stops.
Philly Democrat politician Jimmy Harrity says that he is “livid” because he was “used as a pawn.” Nuff said!
Now he knows how taxpayers feel every single day.
Here’s my prediction. In 2030 the 76ers and the Flyers will each have their own separate taxpayer-funded stadium in South Philly, just like the Phillies and Eagles now have.
The Intuit Dome might be the game changer in this regard. It’s the new “state of the art” arena that other NBA owners will clamor for.
I wouldn’t be shocked if this ends with Wells Fargo getting substantially renovated into a hockey only facility and the 76ers getting their own Intuit Dome.
If two arenas in two different neighborhoods is not sustainable then how is it going to work with two arenas (four stadiums total) in the same block?
It would make way more sense to just build a better version of what they already have there or, maybe, some kind of arena that has separate hockey and basketball spaces in the same building so that they don’t duplicate everything.
Your proposal make sense if you’re the taxpayer funding the operation.
Your proposal makes less sense to those who will profit from that funding (team owners, politicians, contractors, unions, etc.).
For the taxpayer it makes the most sense for both teams to continue playing at the current arena. The fans like the place well enough, with both teams often filling the place to capacity.
Philly is ranked as the poorest big city in America by the Philadelphia Inquirer. 76ers team owner Josh Harris has a $10 billion net worth (Forbes January 2025). Flyers owner Comcast Corporation is ranked number 33 on the Fortune 500 (September 2024). Who are Philly politicians looking out for? Do the math!
76ers owner Josh Harris toyed with the Philly politicians like they were a box of used Legos. Well played Josh!
Though not readily apparent, the 76ers pivoted back to the South Philly stadium district just days after Macy’s announced it was closing its Center City store in the John Wanamaker building.
That’s more of a Macy’s problem than a Philadelphia problem, but it is just one more crisitunity for developers like Harris to take advantage of.
The sports complex in South Philly is nice insofar as it can all share the same parking and transit, but I know that for big events like the Frozen Four, visitors complain that there’s nothing else going on around there. So maybe they also want to build more restaurants and what not.
Losing Center City Macy’s has the same approximate impact on Philly’s economy as losing a major sports franchise.
Losing a professional sports franchise has a much greater emotional impact, but not always in the way you might think. Franchises such as the Eagles and the 76ers have been bad neighbors, each with their constant threats to move if they don’t get huge handouts from the taxpayers. Many locals would be overjoyed to see both leave town, considering their loss to be good riddance to bad rubbish.
Reminds me of a Halloween parade and festival we used to have in our main entertainment district every year. It was probably the second biggest entertainment function of the year, drew huge crowds, really big deal, etc. The businesses in the district *hated* it. Turns out, it drew huge crowds but none of those people went into the businesses, and the regular crowds stayed away. The festival organizers blocked off most of the streets and penned the visitors onto the sidewalks, essentially blocking the business doors. They also sold their own food and booze on the street in “wet zones” so the festivalgoers had no reason to go to the businesses even if they could easily access them. And when the businesses complained about it, the festival organizers threatened them. The business owners were quite happy when the festival organization collapsed.
I believe the quote was that a sports team is worth *three* Macy’s.
But the way that business has been run, I don’t know if Macy’s is worth much at all these days.
The Eagles have been at Lincoln Financial Field for 20+ years after leaving Veterans Stadium, and the last I recall of any “threat to move” was in the mid-to-late 1980’s when Norman Braman wanted to go to Phoenix. The Sixers have been in Philly since 1967 (moved from Syracuse) and were in the Spectrum for almost 30 years and then Wells Fargo now for over 25+ years and their “threat to move” has been mostly recent if I recall correctly. And the Phillies & Flyers have both been around for many decades. So, the “threats to move” for any Philly sports teams may not be as “constant” as you perceive. Philadelphia is 1 of only 10 to 15 cities with all 4 major sports teams within city boundaries despite some arenas & stadiums that needed help as time went on.
Denver?
It seems like Comcast is buying a minority stake of the 76ers, per Bloomberg (via Yahoo).
“Comcast sold the 76ers to a group led by Harris in 2011 for just under $300 million. The team is now valued at $4.57 billion, according to Sportico.”
I don’t get that impression at all, only that the 76ers will co-own the new arena with Comcast as opposed to being a tenant. It’s pretty normal for sports articles to note how much the values have gone up over the years.
Bloomberg is indeed reporting that Comcast will buy a minority stake in the Sixers:
https://www.themiddlemarket.com/news-analysis/comcast-buys-minority-stake-in-76ers-join-new-stadium-venture
Based on the estimated value of the 76ers franchise, the deal could effectively be that Comcast pays 100% of the cost of the new arena and the 76ers ownership gets 50% ownership of that arena in exchange for Comcast getting about 10% ownership of the 76ers.
That looks like a very sweet deal for the Sixers ownership.
I wonder how much seller’s remorse some former owners have. They sell for $300 million 14 years ago and now are probably paying more for a 10% stake. Like the Dodgers sold for $350 million and then the family bought the Padres for $800 million hanging on to the Dodgers would have been the smarter play.
So…. they were going to get tax breaks et al to build a new arena and other commercial developments in Center City and now they are not going to build a new arena in Center city.
What are the odds that this is just a Sternbergesque bait and switch and they will want to keep the tax breaks to do their other development, despite no longer pledging to build anything but private commercial development?
I read somewhere that someone had begun selling #killmoreCEOs t-shirts. Seems like a small industry with big growth potential….
Call me cynical, but the question should be ask. Was this all a setup from the beginning with Comcast in on it for the Sixers to be the stalking horse to get the city to help finance through tax breaks and infrastructure improvements for the Comcast to get a replacement for the Wells Fargo Arena to keep everyone in the Sports Complex plus the planned development of the sports Complex with the Phillies.
Also wouldn’t be surprised if in the long run after this arena is built and the eagles get a retractable roof stadium built in front of The Linc, Harris group ends up owning both facilities and the Sixers, Flyers and Eagles while selling the NJ Devils and Washington Commanders.
It doesn’t make any sense for this to be a Comcast plot: They’ve been fighting with Harris for years over arena plans, and don’t seem to have gained much by having to build a new arena to replace their freshly renovated one.
As for the Eagles, do you have any evidence there, or are you speculating?
Why is Jeff Lurie selling the eagles? For a retractable roof stadium?
Why would Harris swap the Devils for the Flyers? The Commanders for the Eagles? He grew up a Washington fan. He lives in Miami and the Hamptons.
Having teams in multiple markets is best for business.
Spectracor has always owned the Flyers. I don’t see why they would sell them. Jeff Lurie is not going to sell the Eagles either.