Jason Kelce spent 13 seasons playing for the Philadelphia Eagles, winning Super Bowl LII for the city. As a longtime Philadelphia resident, Kelce slammed the 76ers on X for threatening to leave the city for New Jersey to get a better arena. The Philadelphia 76ers threats led to the city announcing a new arena in Center City. Kelce is happy to see the team stay in the city but angry about the methods it used to get there.
“To be clear, I would absolutely support the Sixers building their own arena in South Philadelphia. The renting thing isn’t fair to them, I just hate the strong-arming of the city to force an inevitable move into an area that the local residents and vast majority of Philadelphians don’t prefer be in center city.”
“Again though, at the end of the day, we will all love it in 5-10 years when we have a beautiful new stadium in the heart of the city. It just pisses me off now, with the way it’s happening, and I’m gonna be pissed for the foreseeable future at how this is being forced currently.”
“The threat of moving the team is bullshit, I hate it. Admittedly I was scarred growing up in Cleveland by Art Modell and the Browns, which the city of Cleveland messed up on, but it doesn’t change that I have a strong disdain for owners making these threats with zero care for what the fans or residents who support the team want.”
Kelce opened up on his personal issues with team owners threatening to leave cities, with his personal experience growing up as a Cleveland Browns fan coloring the situation. Cleveland lost its NFL team for three years because owner Art Modell tried relocating them to Baltimore, which led to the NFL giving Modell an expansion team called the Ravens while the Browns suspended operations from 1995 to 1999.
The Philadelphia 76ers Would’ve Moved To New Jersey Without A New Arena
The 76ers threatened to move to Camden, New Jersey in order to get the City of Philadelphia to build a new arena for them as their lease with the Wells Fargo Center ends after the 2030-31 season.
“We have worked tirelessly for the past five years to build an arena in Philadelphia, and negotiations remain ongoing with city leadership regarding our proposal at Market East. The reality is, that we are running out of time to reach an agreement that will allow the 76ers to open our new home in time for the 2031-32 NBA season. As a result, we must take all potential options seriously, including this one.”
The location of Center City for the new arena has turned out to be problematic, as it threatens to displace thousands of residents in Philly’s Chinatown area. Hopefully, the city manages a way to allay those concerns while keeping the franchise in Philadelphia.
Most NBA teams own their own arenas, so continuing to lease arena space at the Wells Fargo Center beyond 2031 would impose severe limitations on how much the 76ers can earn compared to other NBA franchises. They had to give them a new arena if they wanted them to stay, but the cost shouldn’t be the displacements of thousands to gentrify yet another locality.
The new arena project is yet to be officially passed but has received the public support of Mayor Cherelle Parker.
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