The Philadelphia City Council could greenlight the project on Tuesday.
The Philadelphia City Council could give the owners of the National Basketball Association’s Philadelphia 76ers franchise the franchise owners’ biggest victory of the season. Approval of a plan to build an arena in the Chinatown section of the city despite local opposition. On December 12th, the council voted 12-4 to approve the $60 million community benefits package for the proposed 76ers arena. The council’s vote was a crucial step in the road to building an arena. The vote probably is a sign that the council will approve the arena deal at its December 17th final meeting of the year. Should the city council vote yes, that does not mean the arena along with retail and residential space will be built. A group called the No Arena Coalition could file a lawsuit and try to block the construction. The Philadelphia Chinatown Development Corporation is also against the arena plan.
The 76ers ownership group wants to leave the Comcast-owned arena in South Philadelphia when its contract with Comcast runs out after the 2030-31 season. The 76ers franchise ownership wants its own Philadelphia arena because there would be revenue opportunities that do not exist by being a tenant in a building and the 76ers ownership wants to have that venue opened in 2031. Philadelphia elected officials are not the only municipal leaders that want the franchise. The state of New Jersey has officially entered the arena game by offering the 76ers franchise owners around $400 million in tax credits and millions more in government-issued bonds to build an arena-village in Camden. Camden is just over the Ben Franklin Bridge from Philadelphia about a four-mile trip. This is not New Jersey’s first attempt at getting the 76ers business. In December 1993, then owner Harold Katz was ready to move his team to Camden but nothing materialized. The arena game continues.
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Proposed Philadelphia 76ers arena