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Originally Posted by cardeza
If you read the articles about the upgrades I think it's hard to consider them minor. You make it sounds like they are repainting. New seats, wider concourses, new bathrooms, new outdoor terrace, more glass facing center city for better views, new and more concession areas, etc. From what I saw on the upper mezz level it's like a new building inside in the areas that are complete. I believe they also made improvements to the PA system, screens, and communications systems. The location of the building is one thing, but in terms of facility quality it appears post renovation its going to be competitive with anything else out there.
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The renovations are basically irrelevant to the Sixers building a new arena. I'm sure they're happier they're getting done than not, but it doesn't change anything in the end.
The sixers relationship with Comcast spectator was downright contentious up until recently. There have been numerous disagreements between the ownership groups with the most public being a spat over the naming rights of the building. Comcast was insisting that the terms of the naming rights contract required the name of the building to be displayed on the sixers court, even though the sixers were not receiving a penny from wells Fargo. It got to the point where "wells Fargo center" was written in tiny white font that was barely visible on TV broadcasts and their social media posts would refer to the building only as "The Center." Things have apparently cooled off but there is still no love lost between the two groups.
The sixers have NOT been consulted in any serious way in the renovations. They are being undertaken by Comcast, the owners of the flyers and the building and largely with the flyers in mind. The sixers will apparently get a renovated locker room eventually which will be nice because it's currently among the worst in the NBA. The renovation largely won't solve the biggest issue with the locker room though, which is that it is one of the smallest home locker rooms in the NBA, so there still won't be room for many of the amenities found in other nba locker rooms or in their own practice facility for that matter.
At the end of the day, it's just an untenable situation in the long term. The sixers want their own arena so they can make more money, but also because they want more control. The sixers recently ended a 2 plus week road trip that took place over the holidays, a road trip they are forced to take every year during the holidays because every year the flyers rent out the arena to Disney on Ice, a major inconvenience to the Sixers that they receive zero compensation for.
Assuming Harris still owns the team, they'll be moving into a new arena when their lease is up, if not sooner.