Upset alert: Sixers strike surprise deal to stay in South Philadelphia

The Philadelphia 76ers’ Center City arena saga took another unexpected turn Sunday when team officials announced they had struck a deal with Comcast Spectacor to keep the team in the South Philadelphia sports complex. 

The Philadelphia Inquirer reported that the new deal – which comes less than a month after the City Council approved a controversial Center City arena legislative package – involves the Sixers and Comcast Spectacor, which owns the Flyers and Wells Fargo Center, working together to build a new arena in South Philadelphia.

Ryan Boyer, head of the Philadelphia Building and Construction Trades Council, said the deal also involves a commitment for a major development project on East Market Street, where the Center City arena was set to take the place of the Fashion District, but he did not yet have details on what that would look like. 

The agreement between the team, Comcast, and labor leaders comes after all parties, including Mayor Cherelle Parker and City Council, burned through political capital to get the Center City arena legislation passed in December. 

Councilmembers Kendra Brooks and Nicolas O’Rourke, both of the Working Families Party who voted against the legislation, celebrated the news, saying in a statement that the team staying in South Philadelphia  represents a “historic win and a testament to the power of organizing.”

“Anybody following this issue closely could clearly see this was a power struggle between billionaires and corporations,” they stated. “Their plans can change on a whim, and these latest developments are a clear example of why the Mayor and Council should never waste precious time and resources prioritizing billionaire projects over the work Philadelphians elect us to do.”

Fellow City Councilmember and Center City arena critic Jamie Gauthier said the latest development “proves that the project was half-baked.” 

“It is clear that we should have never trusted the process in the first place,” Gauthier said.

Members of the No Arena Coalition, a group of Chinatown organizations, businesses and individuals who have been the most outspoken against the arena, also celebrated the news saying Chinatown is “safe for now.” 

“We were clear from day one that it was dangerous to play in the viper pit with billionaires, but City Hall toyed with the snakes, and they got bit. 12 of 17 Councilmembers turned their backs on decades of research on the false promise of stadium developments, common sense, their voters, and the 70% of Philadelphians who opposed this arena,” the No Arena Coalition said in a statement. ““As planning for the future of Center City continues, lessons must be learned, and the city needs a new class of politicians who respond to people’s needs instead of corporate greed.”

No official announcement has been made by the Sixers, Comcast Spectacor, or the city of Philadelphia yet, but sources told the Inquirer that the new deal also includes an agreement between the Sixers and Comcast to submit a bid for a Philadelphia WNBA team, which would play at the newly agreed-upon South Philadelphia arena. 

This article has been updated to include comment from the No Arena Coalition.