City Council members are scheduled to vote Wednesday on whether to give preliminary approval to the 76ers’ controversial proposal to build an arena in Center City that would open before the 2031-2032 NBA season.
The Council’s Committee of the Whole, which includes all 17 members, met briefly Wednesday morning before adjourning until 4 p.m. as negotiations continued. It is unclear when lawmakers will vote on the package of regulations needed to greenlight the project, or whether Council Speaker Kenyatta Johnson will cancel the committee meeting to allow more time for negotiations.
A majority of council members are expected to ultimately vote in favor of the project, given the support it has received from politically powerful construction unions and other groups. However, lawmakers were still in talks with the 76ers and Mayor Cherelle L. Parker’s administration about certain aspects of the deal. Under normal council rules, the newest Johnson can delay the committee vote until Thursday morning.
» READ MORE: The up-to-date Sixers arena could bring $50 million in benefits to the community. Critics ask who would benefit.
One of the issues is the final price and allocation of funds for the social benefits agreement related to the project. The 76ers initially proposed contributing $50 million to initiatives funded under the agreement, but the council insisted the team exceed the amount. Council member Mark Squilla, whose district includes the proposed arena site and who introduced the legislation, said the team should contribute at least $60 million.
Late Tuesday night, Council leaders floated the possibility of giving the 76ers a $95.8 million take-it-or-leave-it ultimatum in exchange for a community benefits agreement. If Johnson were to proceed with this plan, lawmakers could theoretically vote on a deal the 76ers did not agree to, which would be highly unusual. Alternatively, it could simply be a ploy to get the team to agree to somewhere between $60 million and $95 million.
Some of the money will go toward expenses traditionally included in the CBA, such as aid for nearby businesses that will be impacted by the arena construction. But the deal, originally negotiated by Parker’s office, also includes funding for unrelated citywide programs and mayoral priorities, such as the year-round education initiative.
When lawmakers are ready to move the legislation out of committee, they will first vote on amendments prepared by Squilla’s office that reflect the final negotiated agreement, and then approve bills and resolutions that include rezoning changes, land transfer permits and other measures.
If parliamentarians pass the bill out of committee on Wednesday, it will almost guarantee that the stadium will be approved by the city hall by the end of the year. Johnson said he intends to add an additional council session on Dec. 19 to allow enough time to approve the arena deal.
Once approved by the committee, the next step in the Council procedure will be the first reading of the legislation in the Council, which must take place at least one week before the final vote. The first reading would have to take place at the next Thursday’s Council meeting, allowing for a final vote on December 19. (If additional amendments are needed after the legislation is approved in committee, it would complicate the schedule because regular Council rules require an additional week for bills that were amended on the floor to be approved.)
The saga that led to Wednesday’s expected vote pitted a sports franchise that has called Philadelphia home since 1963 against a neighborhood that has been a haven for the Asian-American community for 150 years. There was also a clash of billionaires, and the owners of the 76ers quarreled with Comcast. It was also a defining moment at the end of the first year of Parker and Johnson’s term.
Hoping to move into their own home when their lease at Comcast Spectacor’s Wells Fargo Center expires in 2031, the 76ers first proposed building a up-to-date arena at Penn’s Landing in 2020, but the team lost out on a mixed-use project that was more consistent with urban planners’ predictions for this place.
Two years later, the team revealed its plan to build an arena that would replace the western portion of the Fashion District mall, with space from 10th to 11th Street and Market to Filbert Street. The team pitched the project as potentially transformative for the long-troubled Market East corridor and said it would be “privately funded” with no support from city taxpayers.
They claim that have since been disputedand the plan was immediately criticized by supporters of Chinatown, which is adjacent to the proposed site and whose leaders believe it would displace residents and businesses in the historic area.
» READ MORE: Philadelphia stadium owners pay no property taxes. Here’s what this means for the Sixers’ arena proposal.
A series of public relations blunders repeatedly cast doubt on the project’s political prospects, and the team publicly flirted with accepting an offer to move to the Camden waterfront thanks to $400 million in New Jersey tax breaks.
But the odds of Center City’s proposal being approved have been long since Parker emerged from a crowded Democratic primary for mayor in 2023.
It appears that the 76ers gave money to a murky money group that supports fifth rounder Jeff Brown, so the up-to-date mayor does not owe her victory to the 76ers. But her campaign has benefited greatly from massive spending by construction unions, led by her longtime ally Ryan Boyer, president of the Workers’ District Council.
Trade unions stand to gain years of steady work and thousands of well-paid jobs from the project, and have played a key role in giving momentum to this arena.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates later.
