Quote:
Originally Posted by Londonee
From what I know and understand, a Sixers arena has a VERY real probability of happening - and agree with your post upthread. I've looked at the 8th and Market geography and have been told that it's simply not big enough for an 18- 20k seat arena. Basketball is meant to be played downtown - it's the most theatrical "event" sport that exists. It's like going to the theatre or a show - a place to see and be seen - which thrives in a downtown location.
It's interesting to note that the WF Center is now 20 years old. The Spectrum lasted about the same number of seasons before talks and work began on the WF center in the early 90s. I feel like the WF Center opened yesterday, time flies.
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While it's true that the WFC is now as old as the Spectrum was when they started planning the new arena, it is a bit of a different situation. In the 30 years that elapsed from the Spectrum being built until the then Corestates Center opened, the very make-up of American arena's entirely changed. The spectrum was built without any club boxes, with tiny concourses that barely had enough room for people to walk much less have people hawk all the concessions and souvenirs that are such big money makers for sports teams. The seats were uncomfortable and cramped and there were some seats where there would just be a giant concrete pillar blocking your view entirely!
That's not even getting into the player accommodations. The locker rooms were a travesty and totally unfit for a professional enterprise worth hundreds of millions of dollars. The Spectrum was not only in deteriorating structural shape, but its very design and lay out was entirely obsolete.
With the WFC, things have changed a lot less in the intervening 20 years. While the building is 20 years older, nothing about it's physical structure is obsolete. There is plenty of concourse space, lots of club boxes and VIP clubs, restaurants etc. Comcast has also periodically poured money into the building to keep it state of the art. Since it has opened, there have been all kinds of upgrades from new jumbotrons and video displays to entirely redone club boxes.
This, combined with the drastic decrease in public willingness to help pay for new stadiums and arenas, means that the WFC is likely to be the home of the Flyers for quite a long time into the future. It fulfills all of their needs and building a new arena is costly so I wouldn't be the least bit surprised if the Flyers played in the WFC for at least twice as long as they were in the Spectrum.
About 8th and Market, it would be tight (real tight), but I've actually measured other downtown arenas and it could be done. It might be impossible, but if they were able to sort of cut into the that corner of the building that juts out into the parking lot closer to market, you would actually be able to fit a 18,000 seat arena easily. Don't know if the building could handle that structurally though. But even without doing that, it could be done.
Quote:
Originally Posted by summersm343
Why would we WANT a ballpark/stadium downtown? Seems like a waste of valuable space where mixed use developments could go. No way is 23rd & Arch lot large enough to hold a ballpark. Also absolutely no way the streets could hold that traffic congestion here... it's too far from Public transit and too far from a highway on/off ramp.
Instead of demoing the parks in South Philly and building waste-of-space ball parks downtown, why doesn't the city upzone the vast seas of parking lots in South Philly around the stadiums and we'll build a mixed-use high-rise district down by the stadiums?
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Why? The answer is obvious. It's cool. It may not be the best reason but it's undeniable that a downtown stadium or arena is a unique attraction that just about every other major american city of Philadelphia's status has.
No one is suggesting to demolish the parks in south philly. The sports complex itself is kind of a cool in a sort of trashy way and as you mention a lot could be done to improve the area. Some stadiums, especially football stadiums considering how huge they are and how infrequently they are used, are terrible ideas for downtown and are better off staying in the sports complex.
But the fact remains that sometime in the fairly near future the Sixers will likely look to build their own arena. Wouldn't it be cool to have at least one sporting venue downtown? As Londonee points out, basketball is sort of the ideal sport to put downtown. It's a real event, the stadiums require the smallest footprint of all sports, and they have enough games to keep the arena energized and full of activity.
Besides, the arena itself can a mixed use building with street fronting retail and restaurants and even office or residential above.
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