It was a surprising twist.
That was quick. Less than a month after Philadelphia elected officials said yes to the National Basketball Association’s Philadelphia 76ers ownership request to build an arena in center city by Chinatown, the 76ers ownership has dropped the arena-village plan and will partner with Comcast, the owner of the National Hockey League’s Flyers franchise, to build an arena in South Philadelphia near the 76ers present venue. Comcast owns the building and rents out the facility to the 76ers ownership in an arrangement that ends in 2031. But Comcast and 76ers ownership will be partners in the proposed arena. Comcast, which sold the 76ers franchise to the Harris-Blitzer group, is buying a share of the 76ers business.
The Harris-Blitzer group wanted to leave South Philadelphia and develop some property in center city. The 76ers franchise ownership wanted 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 wanted to have that venue opened in 2031. Philadelphia elected officials were not the only municipal leaders that want the franchise. The state of New Jersey 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. That was 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 ever materialized. The Harris-Blitzer group’s plan faced an awful lot of community opposition with Chinatown residents protesting against the possible gentrification of the neighborhood along with the possible loss of local businesses. The Harris-Blitzer group and Comcast want a Women’s National Basketball Association franchise in the new Philadelphia building.
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