Updated: Dec. 4, 9:55 p.m.
Philadelphia City Council will wait a little longer before deciding whether or not to advance 76 Place legislation out of committee.
On Tuesday, to allow negotiations to continue with Sixers officials on the Community Benefits Agreement attached to the project, Council recessed their last legislative hearing on the arena until Thursday, just before its regular meeting. But on Wednesday, Council rescheduled that hearing for Wednesday, Dec. 11, at 9 a.m., according to City Council President Kenyatta Johnson's office.
The regular City Council session will take place on Thursday at 10 a.m.
Original article follows:
PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — The owners of the Philadelphia 76ers say they’re willing to pony up more money for a Community Benefits Agreement attached to the proposed $1.3 billion Center City arena, after City Council signaled on Tuesday that’s what it will take to pass legislation to move the project forward.
City Council had been expecting to hold its last scheduled legislative hearing on the deal and vote on advancing the bill. Instead, while negotiation with the 76ers organization continues, Council recessed the hearing until Thursday, just before its regular meeting.
Mayor Cherelle Parker had negotiated a $50 million CBA with the team, and Council members have made clear through weeks of hearings that they consider that figure to be too low.
The team has gotten the message, said an executive with Harris Blitzer Sports and Entertainment, which owns the 76ers.
After standing pat through weeks of hearings, Chief Diversity and Impact Officer David Gould testified that the team was revisiting the amount of the CBA, and terms such as whether protections for nearby businesses should be loans or grants.
“We are in conversations with the Council president about the overall CBA number. Those conversations are active right now, so we don’t have an overall answer, but we are considering adjustments,” said Gould.
“I just want to make sure we’re on record as saying that we take the feedback we get from this body very seriously, which is why we’re taking those things into consideration.”
Gould stuck to some terms, such as not subsidizing SEPTA for the additional service it would have to provide, but a team spokesman said it might provide more funds for SEPTA in the CBA.
While the team’s willingness to budge on the CBA was good news to Councilmember Jamie Gauthier, it was also frustrating for her.
“We’ve been talking about this project for two years,” she said. “So, if I’m the Sixers, and I really want this deal to happen, I’m showing up at these hearings, prepared about how all these concerns get addressed.”
Councilmember Rue Landau also showed annoyance that team’s owners had gotten to the last scheduled hearing without firming up a number.
“This timeline is your timeline. You want it so bad. It is incredibly frustrating that we’re being rushed, and we still don’t have answers to the questions that we need answered in order to decide whether we can even go forward on this.”
Council hopes to have final CBA numbers on Thursday so they can decide whether to advance the bills out of committee. Arena proponents want to get a final vote before Council recesses for the year.
Tuesday’s hearing followed the final public testimony session, which took place Monday night, where about 150 attendees voiced their opinions on the project.
Many argued — as they have been since the proposal was first announced in 2022 — that the project would put the future of neighboring Chinatown at risk, and that the interests of the community were being ignored.
“This arena project is about place, class, belonging and the unrestricted exercise of power and money by billionaires,” one woman said. “As one who completely understands what it feels like to be not seen, I stand with Chinatown.”
“The power of the people is greater than the people in power,” another woman testified. “With 90% of the communities against it, with 70% of the overwhelming Philadelphia communities against it, the only vote you can do is no!”
Though it appears that opposition to the arena coming from the Chinatown community is softing a bit. Laundau and Gauthier said at Tuesday’s hearing that a coalition of Chinatown advocates have created a plan for preventing dislocation if the arenena is built. They say they hope the proposal will be included in the final Community Benefits Agreement.
On the other side, those in favor of the arena believe the proposal would boost the economy.
“We have a chance to fix Market East. Having a Sixers stadium come down here, put thousands of people to work, create jobs — union jobs,” one union member said.
“This city needs this arena like oxygen, so I’m begging this council to build this project,” said another supporter said.
Parker — who has touted the benefits of the plan, including hundreds of millions of dollars in tax revenue that would go toward the city and school district — will attend another community meeting in West Philadelphia Tuesday night to discuss the project. Her first meeting took place in Mount Airy last week.
Ultimately, the plan’s fate is in the hands of City Council. A final vote on key pieces of arena legislation could take place in the next few weeks.