Mayor Cherelle Parker unveiled on Wednesday night the package of legislation outlining the Sixers arena proposal, which still has to be approved by city council. Among the caveats, the team would have to play at the facility until 2061, and the provision involving public dollars for competing facilities was also included:

The Philadelphia Inquirer first mentioned this in a story from Sean Collins Walsh published on September 6th.

What you’re looking at is something generically know as a “most favored nation” clause, which guarantees that a country, party, organization, or whatever, receives similar or better benefits from other groups under the same deal. It’s essentially similar treatment for all.

In this case, the Sixers are promising to build 76 Place with no taxpayer money at all. If Comcast-Spectacor, for instance, builds a new Flyers arena, and public funds are contributed by the city, the Sixers would then retroactively receive the same money.

When we talked to Comcast-Spectacor Chairman and CEO Dan Hilferty over the summer, he noted that the sports complex revamp is going to predominantly be built with private money.


He anticipated public money only coming in for infrastructure:

“..SEPTA, we’re hoping to work with SEPTA around connecting the various neighborhoods. Broad Street Line, it stops right at the arena. I don’t know the water table, if they can continue. There’s gotta be an easier way to access this emerging, beautiful neighborhood that’s going to have apartment buildings and all sorts of other things in the Navy Yard and Bellwether District. So there’s a need for public transportation, anywhere. We would anticipate that government would be supportive and helpful in that regard. The second piece is, we need direct access to 95, both north and south, so a combination of getting people in and out of the Navy Yard faster and getting people in and out of the complex to the major highways. That includes 76, better access there. I would anticipate that whether it’s PennDOT, SEPTA, a lot of it would be SEPTA money unless it’s highway, and I don’t know that federal money would be involved. But infrastructure is where we would anticipate (public dollars being involved)… In terms of the development, the first announcement is going to be this music venue – all privately funded. Hotels – all privately funded. Living space, apartments – all privately funded. Other amenities, we’re looking at everything from the Philadelphia sports museum, hoping to pull that together, to other attractions – restaurants, entertainment space, privately funded. We’re looking to do that all private.”

The ‘arrangements with other competing facilities‘ provision is written for lawyers to understand, and there are a bunch of little caveats thrown in. But note that in the language it excludes an “open air facility constructed for a professional soccer team” and puts the seating range between 5,000 and 25,000. So if the Union ever moved to the city, or the Eagles or Phillies built new stadiums of 25k plus, they would be exempt from the clause. That’s why it’s accurate to identify this as a Comcast-Spectacor poison pill of sorts, because it really only affects the Flyers and Wings.

Of course, it doesn’t mean Comcast can’t receive public money from the city. It just means that if they do, the Sixers get that same money as a future benefit. The question is whether or not the clause is incongruent with what the Sixers have been saying for two years now. One of the biggest selling points of 76 Place is that no taxpayer money will be used, but if there’s a caveat allowing them to receive public money in the future, retroactively, then does it run counterintuitive to the message we’ve been hearing since the summer of 2022? You tell me.