PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Organizers have selected the former Lit Brothers building to house Philadelphia's long-planned Museum of Sports. Now, the museum needs a financial backer.
It was hoped that a Museum of Sports could be included with a new Sixers arena in South Philadelphia.
"We've been aiming for the sports complex for a long time. But that's not going to happen for maybe three years, maybe four," Flyers founding Vice President and Museum of Sports President Lou Scheinfeld told KYW Newsradio.
Scheinfeld said his nonprofit is now looking to rent 12,000 square feet on the ground floor of the Lits Building at Seventh and Market streets.
"We're in talks with the owner of the building for a lease. We've reached out to the mayor's office, we've reached out to Gov. Shapiro's office for some incentives to locate there,” he said.
The idea to build a showplace for local and national sports memorabilia has been around for more than a decade, but fundraising has lagged.
"We're also looking for an angel. We're hoping there's somebody out there — a sports fan with deep pockets who will step up," Scheinfeld said. "We're very excited about this site, and we're looking for people to help us."
Scheinfeld said organizers are about halfway to raising the $1.5 million it would take.
The museum would display a fraction of the world-renowned sports memorabilia collection of cardiologist Nicholas DePace.
"His collection is so vast that it could fill ten museums," Scheinfeld said. "We have a Babe Ruth shirt that's highly rare, worth millions. We have a Ty Cobb shirt when he played for the Philadelphia A's, which is worth $3 million."
Scheinfeld says if financial backing materializes, the museum could open in three to four months.