The Sixers Ain't Leaving. Philly Government Approves New Arena Deal In Center City
Kevin C. Cox. Getty Images.The Sixers have been trying to get out of the Wells Fargo Center for a few years now. Recently it seemed like they were starting to get extra desperate to get a deal done by throwing some bluffs out there like leaving for Camden.
Obviously Comcast-Spectacor wanted to keep the Sixers in South Philly because they're making a shit ton of money off of them as a tenant in the building. Obviously the people of Chinatown wanted to keep the Sixers out of Market East so their neighborhood doesn't get completely fucked. And personally I didn't want to see a deal get done just because I hate Josh Harris getting what he wants since he's a little weasel who owns two rival teams. But after years of going back and forth, it looks like the Sixers finally got their way and a new stadium deal has been approved by the mayor.
No matter what, a new arena right in the middle of the city is going to be awesome. I love the Sports Complex down in South Philly but there's always something cool about an arena being directly in the mix with everything else going on in the city. And I'm sure this is going to open up a ton of new restaurants and bars right around where the new arena is going, so that part of town is going to get a huge boost.
But the thing about Philly is that we're just not a huge public transportation city. Not because we don't want to be, but because public transportation in Philly is absolute dog shit. If you could count on the majority of people going to Sixers games just hopping on a train and getting off at Jefferson Station, that would be great. The fact of the matter is that most people are still going to end up driving. It's going to be a traffic nightmare for sure.
There are pros and cons to everything. But you want to know the easiest ways to make sure that the pros outweigh the cons? I'll tell ya--just fucking win.
That's all it takes. If the Sixers finally get their heads out of their asses and make a few trips to the NBA Finals, then everybody will love the new arena. Everybody will love having that team right in the heart of Philly and maybe folks from the suburbs will actually learn how to take the train into town for a change. But if this team continues to be the biggest group of underachieving dickheads the city has ever seen? Well then everybody is going to despise the new stadium wreaking absolute havoc on the city, and they'll wish the team had moved to Jersey and drowned in the Camden waterfront. Winning cures all problems, and losing magnifies them. The Sixers got their new deal, now it's up to them to just stop being assholes once the playoffs roll around.