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Originally Posted by wanderer34
After listening to some of the gripes on having a downtown arena over an arena that’s 15-20 min away from CC, with a mass transit link (BSL), having another arena not just in the Sports Complex, but in the middle of CC is the most superfluous thing that’s ever been thought of.
The Sports Complex isn’t that far away from CC, plus the BSL is more than adequate enough to deal with sporting events. Some spectators will travel by car, others by bus, and there are those who will opt for the train, and those will will either take a taxi or rideshare. I used to work as a taxi driver for many years, and the amount of people that attend one of our sporting events that I’ve seen at the Slorts Complex makes that area more than adequate to deal with a lot of spectators, especially when there’s a day game at around 12-1 PM and a night game at 7-8 PM.
I don’t believe placing an arena at 11th and Market is the adequate thing to do only because you have a lot of one lane streets in that vicinity plus Market St isn’t as wide as Broad St south of Oregon Ave, Pattison Ave, or the adjacent streets in the Doorts Complex area. In other words, keep all the sporting events in South Philly!!!
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I can't believe how many times this has to be explained. Comcast Spectacor owns the Wells Fargo Center and the 76ers are tenants there. The 76ers want to own an arena and generate their own revenue instead of renting. They want to host concerts, events, NCAA tournament games, Villanova games etc. A brand new stadium at 11th and Market would instantly be more desirable for all of these events and Philly is a big enough city that can support 2 arenas.
Downtown arenas are more vibrant and create a better atmosphere before and after a game. Most of the 76ers season is in the middle of winter, there isn't really a tailgate culture like there is for football or baseball. The WFC was built in 1996, it will be 35 years old when the 76ers lease runs out in 2031. The Spectrum was 19 years old when the Flyers/Sixers moved on to the Wells Fargo Center. NYC, Brooklyn, Boston, San Francisco, Milwaukee, Miami, Cleveland, Los Angeles, Sacramento, Detroit, Atlanta, Toronto, Montreal and Washington DC all have downtown arenas. So are they all wrong?
JFK stadium was built in 1926. We're coming up on 100 years of the sports complex and still Xfinity Live and a shitty casino are the only things to be built in an abyss of parking lots. I could see an apartment building or some bars being built in the next 10 years but it'll always be a car centric spot.
Then you have the fashion district. A dying mall with a bankrupt owner. The 76ers can save them by buying them out of 1/2 of their space which is a more realistic amount of commercial space. Market East was hit harder than any other area of Center City during the pandemic. Marshalls, Rite Aid, Century 21, Target, Starbucks, Subway, Burger King, DSW and many more stores have all closed in that vicinity. Commercial/retail is doing terribly, especially in Market East. The entire south side of Market Street from 11th to 8th is run down or boarded up besides the Federal building. Massive empty lots at 13th and Market and 8th and Market. It is quite possibly the most well connected public transit intersection in the United States outside of NYC and Chicago. 13 regional rail lines, Patco, MFL, Broad-Ridge Spur and Broad Street line is only a 5 minute walk.
They're also adding a 400 foot residential tower...which eliminates a lot of the supposed "deadzone" people thought the stadium would make. I'd encourage you to hang out at 10th and Market on a Tuesday night in February right now and see how vibrant it currently is...now imagine 20,000 people going to a 76ers game or concert. Getting dinner before and drinks after.
If you're on this forum and care about urbanism there is no logical way you can tell me this isn't a good project for the city. 1.3 billion investment! The 76ers will not spend that much and not clean up the area. They will also dramatically help MFL ridership while I'm sure pressuring Septa and the city to clean up the El. In San Francisco, your ticket to a Warriors game includes a Muni train ticket with it. Hopefully the 76ers do the same.