In a stunning reversal of plans, it’s being reported that the Philadelphia 76ers have abandoned their plans to build a new arena in downtown Philadelphia, and will instead partner with the Philadelphia Flyers and their parent company, Comcast-Spectacor, to build a new arena to replace the Wells Fargo Center. This all comes after the Philadelphia City Council had approved a $1.3 billion downtown stadium plan in December.
The new arena concept had been plagued by opposition from the local community, with the residents of downtown Philly worried about issues such as gentrification, traffic, noise, and the other associated problems that come from building an arena in a downtown location. Reports were that the Sixers were offering a $60 million pledge to address some of these issues, but the neighborhood association wanted something more in the ballpark of $300 million.
So now, despite not a single public word being mentioned by the Flyers about potentially building a new arena, that seems to be the plan (at least according to local reports – there hasn’t been an announcement by Comcast yet). Are there renderings? Not that have been reported. A timeline? Nope. A cost estimate? Nope. Which is to say – who knows what’s really going on here.
The Downtown Arena Plan
The downtown arena, in our opinion, was a mixed bag. In a lot of ways, a new arena located downtown would have likely brought significant development to the area, and if you’ve been to downtown Philly before, you’d probably agree that some development might not be a bad thing.
Multi-purpose arenas and baseball stadiums tend to be great anchor tenants for such developments, since they usually bring with them 100-200 events per year. That kind of foot traffic can support local restaurants, bars, retail, and can even help revitalize public transit systems. Such arenas in Washington DC (Capital One Arena), Los Angeles (Crypto.com Arena), Detroit (Little Caesars Arena), and Dallas (American Airlines Center) are great examples of how a single major venue in a city center have spurred development.
On the other hand, we’ve repeatedly seen what happens in cities where there’s more than one major arena: they end up splitting the other events that come into town, like concerts and one-off touring events, leaving two venues that aren’t filling enough nights instead of one arena becoming really healthy. We’ve seen that in places like Phoenix (Footprint Center and Desert Diamond Arena), South Florida (Kaseya Center and Amerant Bank Arena), and Minneapolis (Target Center and Xcel Arena), although in the case of Minneapolis, Xcel Center seems to get the majority of events, to the detriment of the Target Center.
And as those venues age, the teams will often try to get the local governments to help fund renovations, resulting in twice as much cost to the local taxpayers. And for what? What value do two major arenas bring that one major arena wouldn’t?
Refocusing on the South Philly Sports Complex
So, while we don’t particularly love the Sports Complex in South Philly – mainly because it’s nothing but stadiums and concrete jungle parking lots – there’s no denying that putting a new arena in a place where all of the infrastructure already exists is a less expensive way to go. And when you’re talking about taxpayer dollars that could better be used on schools, police forces, and infrastructure, it’s not hard to conclude that a second arena in Philadelphia seemed silly.
And if the teams agree to a larger commercial development around the arena, such as retail establishments and, perhaps, new residential units, then the Sports Complex might become something much more appealing than it is today. That would be a win for all involved: the teams, the fans, and the city.
And keep in mind: the current arena was opened in 1996, and it’s largely considered that stadiums built in the 1990s have a useful life of about 30 years. If the teams were to open a new arena around 2030, that wouldn’t be unreasonable by industry standards given the current arena’s age. Neighboring Citizens Bank Park was opened in 2004, and Lincoln Financial Field was opened in 2003. Both are solid stadiums that don’t currently look like they will need to be replaced anytime soon.
Having said that, we’ll be keeping an eye on this, because it’s entirely possible that we haven’t heard the end of this drama.
