The Sixers will build their new arena on Market Street after getting approval from Philadelphia City Council on Thursday. The vote was 12 to 5 in favor, with council members Jamie Gauthier, Rue Landau, Nicolas O’Rourke, Kendra Brooks, and Jeffery Young Jr. voting no.

After more than two years of very public fighting that involved Chinatown opposition, union labor, Comcast, the media, and pretty much anybody with an opinion and a pulse, this is finally over. Or, at least, this particular phase is over. Now the actual work begins, with the demolition and construction taking place between now and 2031, when the Sixers’ lease at the Wells Fargo Center ends.

As we turn the page on this story, I have 20 thoughts on what amounted to one of the most contentious and fascinating fights in Philadelphia history:

  1. It was frustrating that the basic details of the story continued to be misunderstood more than two years later. “What’s wrong with the Wells Fargo Center?” Nothing, but the Sixers don’t own it and want their own building. “Why is it being built in Chinatown?” It’s not, but it abuts their southernmost business. “How will we drive there?” You’re not supposed to, you’re supposed to take the train. “Why is city council spending tax money on this?” They’re not; it’s privately financed.
  2. Why did people have this lack of knowledge? Maybe it was general ignorance. Or maybe it was from the initial wave of media coverage, which was lackluster, and created this emotionally-charged “evil white billionaires vs. minority community” narrative. A lot of people took hard stances on either side of the project, almost immediately, and that’s why the middle ground of nuanced discussion and critical thinking was largely nonexistent.
  3. This was never about the Sixers vs. anyone. You know that, right? This was about union labor vs. Comcast. It was a battle between Philadelphia’s two most powerful entities. As soon as Cherelle Parker won the election, it was over. Anybody paying half-attention knew this, because a labor-backed mayor was never going to turn down a $1.3 billion dollar, post-COVID private investment in Center City. Had Helen Gym won, the arena was cooked, and if Rebecca Rhynhart won, it would have been possible, but much more contentious.
  4. One of Josh Harris, David Blitzer, or David Adelman should have been at the City Council hearings. For optics, if nothing else. It’s true that David Gould and Alex Kafenbaum were heavily involved from the beginning, and played important roles, but they are not ownership and it would have helped the Sixers’ case if a member of that group was present. Obviously it didn’t matter in the end, but there’s a general criticism that they are outsiders and need to be more like John Middleton and Jeffrey Lurie.
  5. Chinatown had every right to fight back on the arena, and a lot of their complaints have merit. The question is whether the tactics made sense. Initially, it seemed like there was a lot of sympathy for their plight, particularly among neutrals. This was probably in early 2023, after the Sixers were shouted out of that neighborhood meeting. But they made gradual adjustments to their plan, held a number of community meetings, and changed their approach at the same time the opposition was pushing back and doing nothing else. From my observation, it felt like it got to a point of diminishing returns, where you can only say “no” so many times before people begin to grow weary. The thing about living in Center City Philadelphia is that being a NIMBY is almost impossible, just by virtue of basic density and the fact that you’re in the dead center of one of the largest metropolitan areas in North America. Maybe the arena isn’t the best thing to build at 10th and Market, but something was going to be built, and if Chinatown had successfully defeated 76 Place, there was nothing stopping PREIT (EDIT – my bad, Macerich took over mall operations after PREIT’s first bankruptcy) from selling that portion of the still-failing mall to another developer, who would have built something else without a community benefits agreement. Then Chinatown would have received absolutely nothing. So there really was a “pick your poison” element to all of this from the beginning and I’m not sure it was given the consideration it required.
  6. I still think the most important thing for Chinatown is the 676 stitch and reconnection to Callowhill and Spring Garden. All of this talk centered on their southern border, but if you look north and east, and maybe win control of the old Roundhouse, that opens up a lot of possibilities. This may have been a blown leverage opportunity to pursue one or both of those things.
  7. Adjacent to the Chinatown topic was the pushback from parts of Washington Square West and The Gayborhood. Those ultimately didn’t hold a lot of weight. The stuff about arena attendees stampeding through an LBGTQ neighborhood and making people uncomfortable was offensive to Sixers fans, who are typically more progressive and less rowdy than fans of other sports in Philadelphia. It seemed from the beginning that non-sports fan entered the discussion with a general misunderstanding that everything in our world resembles a Jetro tailgate.
  8. The CBA money should have been exclusively spent on Chinatown and arena-specific issues. That’s the whole point of a CBA, in theory, to offset the problems created by new development. Instead, stuff like an apprenticeship program and funding for food insecurity was thrown into the negotiations, which had absolutely nothing to do with this and only served to distract from Chinatown’s needs.
  9. The most interesting snapshot of the economic argument centered on the PILOT setup, or “payment in lieu of taxes.” Every sports arena in this area has the PILOT setup, where teams don’t pay property taxes, but they pay a fixed sum of annual money. Opponents described this as a tax break for billionaires, saying that you could build something else at the location and reap more money from it. That is true. But what’s also true is that the arena will generate more $$$ than what the mall is currently generating. So the city is getting more regardless; the opposition just framed it like “you could have gotten more.“
  10. Howard Eskin, the Burger King, has to take a big L on this one. Nobody railed against the project more than he did, and for really stupid reasons. He was out there lamenting the loss of the tailgating scene, which doesn’t exist. There is no Sixers tailgating unless they make the postseason, because the regular season takes place in the dead of winter. He also said there are no good places to eat near the arena site, which, ironically, is an insult to Chinatown. He also spread false news about the Greyhound bus terminal, saying that the Sixers were responsible for its demise, when, in truth, it was slated for disuse before the Sixers got involved with the location. Howard doesn’t give a shit about Chinatown and probably hasn’t been there in 30 years. He just hates the Sixers and the ownership group, and because he carries water for the Eagles, he needs to hammer someone else to mask the charade.
  11. Did you notice that the Inquirer adjusted their arena coverage near the end? It shifted to the City Hall reporters, who did a nice job. The paper’s early reporting on the arena came from several angles, such as the then-new Communities and Engagement desk and from immigration reporter Jeff Gammage, whose role changed in 2024 to “Business of Sports reporter.”
  12. This fell by the wayside, but at some point in 2024, the Communities and Engagement desk, which started with six reporters, dwindled to two. The early wave of pro-Chinatown, anti-Sixers stuff was penned almost exclusively by this desk, which was created in the wake of the BLM-inspired employee revolt. When the Inquirer pivoted editorially as the result of the Temple University audit, the arena plan was announced shortly after, creating the perfect fodder for a new-look staff with a new approach.
  13. The “Sixers always wanted to move to New Jersey” conspiracy theory was the biggest load of horse shit ever. Shame on everyone who believed it and spread it. Go sit in the corner.
  14. There should be a WNBA expansion team playing in this new arena. It makes too much sense not to do it.
  15. Another really dumb thing that was said during all of this was that the Sixers didn’t “deserve” a new arena because they haven’t done enough winning lately. Nevermind the fact that they’re footing the entire bill, but if wins and losses were some sort of requirement for new digs, then Citizens Bank Park and the Linc would have never been built, because the Phillies and Eagles were much more shit than good in the mid to late 90s, save for a couple of 10-6 Ray Rhodes years and the 93′ Phils. And the Flyers haven’t won the Stanley Cup since the mid-1970s, so I guess they shouldn’t have a new arena either. PLUS – this thing isn’t gonna open until 2031, so the Joel Embiid era will be long over and the Sixers will be a completely different team seven years from now.
  16. I still think the Sixers and Flyers playing in separate arenas is good for both teams. Even if it results in one fewer back-to-back and allows for more scheduling flexibility, it can put you in a more favorable position than a competitor.
  17. The biggest problem the Sixers now face is transportation. For starters, SEPTA is a joke and needs proper funding and staffing. If that happens over the next seven years, then you have to convince people who have been driving to South Philly for 40 years to get on a train. It’s a hard philosophical shift for a parochial town that loves to drive. Throw in the fact that you have suburbanites who think they’re going to get mugged on SEPTA, and who don’t know the difference between the EL, Broad Street Line, and regional rail, and you’ve got a tough task ahead.
  18. This is the first domino to fall in the larger discussion surrounding the sports complex. The Sixers are gone and they’re not coming back. Meantime, the Eagles have not joined the Comcast + Phillies plan, which some conspiracy theorists seem to think was just a fake proposal meant to counter the Sixers’ plan. I’m not sure I totally believe that because the Phils signed on and did media on it. Why would the Phillies participate in a Comcast ploy? As the Eagles poke around and try to figure out what’s best for their future, the World Cup is just around the corner, which will showcase the sports complex and what may be possible for the future. Expect that to be used as leverage in discussions over how best to use the area moving forward. Watch this space. My rumormongering absolutely has legs.
  19. Covering City Hall looks like a total shit show. Those reporters deserve hazard pay. Anybody who has anything to do with City Hall deserves hazard pay.
  20. This was my favorite topic of all time to write about. Why? Because it had everything. It had race, politics, and sports. It had public transportation and urban planning. It had union labor, the Comcast opposition, and shady behind-the-scenes stuff. It was intersectional like we’ve never seen intersectionality before. You’d need all of the Venn Diagrams in the world to properly illustrate it.