While NBA Commissioner Adam Silver will probably never have to buy a drink in Chinatown ever again, the residents of Philadelphia have questions regarding the Philadelphia 76ers decision not to build an arena in Center City.
Philadelphia Mayor Cherelle Parker, at podium, listens to NBA Commissioner Adam Silver, on screen right, during a news conference in Philadelphia, Monday, Jan. 13, 2025, announcing that the Philadelphia 76ers will partner with Comcast, their current landlord, to build a new arena in South Philadelphia and abandon a deal with the city to build the arena downtown,. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)
By Denise Clay-Murray
Right now, everyone who was fighting against the Philadelphia 76ers building an arena in Chinatown needs to send NBA Commissioner Adam Silver a thank-you note.
Why? Because the rather dour news conference held at the Mayor’s Reception Room announcing the Philadelphia 76ers’ decision to join forces with Comcast and build an arena that would be the home of both the Sixers and the Philadelphia Flyers was his doing.
On Saturday night, the buzz that the Sixers had changed their minds about building an arena near Chinatown was starting to mount. The word on the street was that NBA Commissioner Silver and Comcast CEO and chair Brian Roberts had met with Sixers owners Josh Harris, David Blitzer and David Adelman and said, in so many words, that the combination of bad publicity and the threat of scuttling the NBA’s outreach into one of its biggest markets for growth — China, for those of you playing at home — made 76 Place a no-go.
So on Monday, Harris, Adelman, Roberts, Dan Hilferty, president and CEO of Comcast Spectacor, and even Silver via conference call were in the Mayor’s Reception Room with the folks who were the last to know about this — Mayor Cherelle Parker, Council President Kenyatta Johnson, and some of the 12 members of City Council that voted to approve the arena — to give what would have to pass for details right now.
Not even comedian Wanda Sykes could lighten the mood. More on why she was there in a minute.
The arena would open in 2031, but could open earlier, according to a press release issued by Comcast and Harris Blitzer Sports and Entertainment. In addition to the arena, both sides promised a 50/50 development in Center City to replace the arena that was supposed to be an anchor of a commercial corridor seriously in need of one, Roberts said.
“The neighborhood needs a vibrancy, and the Sixers have been right about that,” he said. “So that’s another project, and that’s going to require thought and starting over, but we’re committed to that.”
What that means wasn’t clear. But what was clear is that Comcast is getting a minority stake in the Sixers and has promised to help the city get a WNBA franchise.
(That was, by the way, why Sykes was there. She and her wife Alex have been part of a group that has been championing a WNBA franchise for the city.)
Despite having enough egg on it to build the world’s largest frittata, Mayor Parker put on a brave face and said that in spite of the time wasted, and the political capital expended, Philadelphia will benefit in the end. Even Chinatown will benefit, because the $20 million pledged by the city for affordable housing will be honored, she said.
As the poorest city of its size in America, all economic development needs to be at least considered, Parker said.
“Philly, this is a lot. This is a curveball that nobody saw coming, but we’re here,” she said. “As the mayor of the City of Philadelphia, I don’t have the luxury of wallowing in this 180. We are not in a position to be able to lose revenue.”
“This could be a bad day if we were announcing that [the Sixers] were moving to Jersey. But we stand here today being able to accomplish everything we set out to do when we set out on this journey,” Parker continued. “We talked about a revival of Market Street that would occur from City Hall down to the river. Nothing about that commitment has changed, except we will now fast-track the master plan and begin that process immediately.”
Although partnerships between the Sixers and Flyers have not traditionally benefitted the team — anyone who is a longtime sports fan here in the city remembers when the late Ed Snider owned both teams and used the Sixers to finance many of the questionable decisions he made with the Flyers — Harris was optimistic.
“I think that this is an exciting day for Philly,” Harris said. “We saw an opportunity for something even bigger than what we had planned. HBSE’s new partnership with Comcast will see that Philadelphia will benefit from two projects instead of one. The journey to the best solution doesn’t always go in a straight line, but I’m positive that we’re going in the right direction for Philly.”
But that said, this direction could have been achieved earlier, Council President Johnson said.
“This is a win-win, because plan B is better than plan A,” he said. “Now, we’re going to double the revenue. We’re still going to be focused on whether Black and Brown and women-owned businesses have a seat at the table. I wish y’all could have gotten the deal done before we started the process. But this deal shows that at the end of the day, we have to focus on moving the city forward.”
The new arena will be a part of the project that Comcast proposed some months ago that will be a partnership with the Philadelphia Eagles, the Philadelphia Phillies, and the Philadelphia Flyers.
But here’s the thing.
I don’t see any legislation coming before Council any time soon. And even if it does, it’s going to have a hard way to go.
That’s because the Councilmembers who voted in support of 76 Place, and those who voted against it, are more than a little angry because of how this all went down. To say that no one trusts most of the folks involved in this, especially the Sixers, would be the understatement of the year.
And if the Sixers and Comcast think they’re going to get Council President Johnson, whose district this will be a part of, to pay $259 a month for a Geo Metro, I’m pretty sure that’s a no.
Stay tuned.
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