Adam Silver is behind the Sixers-Flyers arena deal, sure, maybe

I figured eventually we’d get one of those insider journalism articles about why the Philadelphia 76ers owners switched from a planned Market Street arena of their own to sharing a new building with their current landlords, the Flyers, I didn’t figure that “eventually” would mean two days, but here we are. And the answer — or at least one answer — appears to be “NBA commissioner Adam Silver got his billionaire friends together to have them kiss and make up”:

On the afternoon of Dec. 1, Sixers managing partner and co-owner Josh Harris, who is also managing partner of the NFL Washington Commanders, hosted a group of sports business heavyweights at the football team’s home game against the Tennessee Titans.

The group included two other Sixers co-owners — David Blitzer and David Adelman — as well as NBA commissioner Adam Silver and Comcast chair and CEO Brian L. Roberts…

Silver, who has served as NBA commissioner since 2014, believed that having two competing Philadelphia arena projects in the same timeframe would be detrimental to both the city and the teams, according to the sources.

There’s some logic to this: Silver has an interest in the health of the Sixers, obviously, but his league is also business partners with Comcast, the Flyers owner, which just signed an 11-year broadcast deal with the NBA. Having the two teams each fighting for Philadelphia arena supremacy could only end up with one side or another losing, so by brokering a deal Silver is just shoring up ruling class solidarity and monopoly power.

The question remains, though, why Sixers owner Josh Harris took the bait. He seemed all-in on a Market East arena as recently as last month, so either something changed his mind about that, or that was always a dodge to get Comcast (and Silver, as it turned out) to the negotiating table, or Silver truly has the power to cloud men’s minds. The Philadelphia Inquirer article laying out the commissioner’s role doesn’t include any quotes from Harris other than those from his press conference on Monday, which are PR mush along the lines of “We didn’t really change our mind. Actually, we were really committed to Market East, but … our north star was doing the right thing by Philly.”

The Inquirer article is evasive about its sourcing for the entire chain of events, citing only “sources familiar with the matter,” which could always mean that this story is what somebody wants to push as a narrative more than actual, you know, reality. The closest to a named source it provides is Philadelphia Building and Trades Council leader Ryan Bower, who says Silver “put [the team owners] together” and “I’m sure that that partnership [between the NBA and Comcast] played a lot in this decision that you see now.” This all amounts to intriguing hints, but is far from the deeply investigated timeline that one would really want; maybe once the Athletic has successfully gotten its union recognized, it can devote some time to putting together all the pieces here.

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5 comments on “Adam Silver is behind the Sixers-Flyers arena deal, sure, maybe

  1. I thought the arena and Flyers were a subsidiary of a subsidiary of Comcast/Universal, so I am a little surprised Brian Roberts got involved. He pays other people to worry about stuff like this.

    Comcast’s revenue is around $120bn a year. Spectacor’s revenue is…a lot less.

    1. Brian Roberts is not above putting in a half-day’s work watching an NFL game from the owner’s luxury box with his chums Dave, Adam, and David .

      I wouldn’t be surprised to learn that a couple of “hostesses” served “refreshments” at halftime!

  2. Hot take after Philadelphia City Council approved the Sixers arena deal: Wow! Comcast really doesn’t run Philadelphia after all!

    Hot take now: Ummm, yes they do.

    1. Lol, yeah. That became crystal clear. I imagine Comcast called in the NBA and they made it happen. But hey, Philly is also going to get a WNBA team if you believe the reporting.

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