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Originally Posted by Groundhog
I mean, he sold them because he was nearing the end of life, didn't care about basketball at all and wanted to focus on his first love, hockey. He ran the 6ers into the ground, they weren't getting butts in the seats, and he couldn't care less about the sport. That aside, it's weird that Comcast still owns the Flyers, they're a big enough company that they should have outgrown them by now, just like Disney did, but that's another matter.
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It was Snider's right to sell the team, even though I disagree with the sale, it was done, and it goes down as probably the stupidest event in Philly sports alongside the Clarke/Lindros soap opera and the TO/McNabb fiasco that split up at the fanbases.
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Originally Posted by Groundhog
I still don't understand how people are getting displaced by this. Arenas don't generify. That's why people have largely wised up to the tax payer money grabs - they don't provide a return to the community. The myth has been exposed and the only people peddling it are billionaires still looking for handouts and Chinatown proponents. Strange bedfellows.
It can have a positive impact on the neighborhood, but displacing people is a jump.
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There's less Chinese in DC Chinatown than in 1995, when the MCI Arena (now Verizon Center) was completed. It "revitalized" DC Chinatown and brought the Capitals and the Wizards to DC for the first time in their histories, at the expense of DC Chinatown, which was majority Chinese, not a former shell of itself. Philadelphia, if the arena is built, is going to be destined to follow in that path. Another example is the old St Louis Chinatown, which was sacrified for the Busch Stadium back in 1966 (
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinatown,_St._Louis)
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Originally Posted by Groundhog
It would host far more than 41 games a year. I don't have the numbers anymore since I've switched industries, but in the 2010's I know the WFC was one of the busiest arenas in the country between sports, concerts, and other events. They host events the majority of the year, not just a little over 1 month.
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How can you be sure when the WFC already hosts the bulk of major concerts in the city. It has potential, but the Sports Complex has better infrastructure with the BSL, wide, major streets such as Broad St (PA 611) and Pattison Ave, and the Schuylkiil (I-76) and the Delaware (I-95) Expressways bookending the Sports Complex with relative ease, serving suburban and urban spectators alike.
I've felt that since the Spectrum and the WFC co-exiseted (back when it was called the First Union Center, then the Wachovia Center), that placing another arena at either the old Spectrum or the Vet sites was the next best solution if the city couldn't agree to allow the 76ers and the Flyers share the WFC.
I don't see how erecting 76 Place at 10th and Market will be able to handle the traffic flow, considering that the only major street of that magnitude is Market St, and the numbered streets and the east-west streets aren't wide nor efficient enough to really handle all that traffic. Plus, barring I-76 and I-95, I-676 is the closest expressway connecting the proposed arena, and it's not a direct route, as you have to go through CC neighborhoods just get to this proposed arena.
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Originally Posted by Groundhog
It's not about the walk, it's about the transfers. If you live near the BSL it's awesome. I'm in West Philly and I need to take the trolley to the Broad Street line and it SUCKS. If I'm going to a 6ers game (and as a season ticket holder, I go to quite a few games), the trolleys are generally done running for the night by the time the game is over. Instead, I usually drive to South Philly and just on at Federal Ellsworth because otherwise the transfers take too much time out of my day and causes a headache.
Even that fails at times. Going to the Phillies on Sunday, I had two consecutive trains pass us (which were not full and not scheduled as express trains) and my son lost his shit because we missed the first pitch of the game. I'm trying to raise him to be urban and appreciate public transit, but SEPTA made an enemy out of my 7 year old this weekend, which is a damn shame.
Honestly, I would have preferred the 6ers stay in the stadium district because it is a unique gameday experience having everything right there. I get that that's not the world we live in through and economics dictate that they push out somewhere else. My second choice would have been over the tracks at 30th street, but this is a solid option as well. I am highly skeptical it is actually any threat to Chinatown or anyone else. Instead, it will likely make that stretch of Market safer.
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Your gripe should be with SEPTA, not the location of the arena/stadium. The system is very antiquated as it is. Even with the proposed arena, it's not going to push SEPTA to be any better because the five counties run the entire system and Philly has little say so, even with the surface and subway routes, it has little say so because of how SEPTA is ran.
The city should have a major say with the subway and many of the bus routes (which are also antiquated and should also change such as the H, XH, and 26 bus routes, which are highly inefficient routes).
I'm also not sure about your past planning, but if you're going to a sporting event in this city, it's best to come 2 hours before game time since you're going to encounter a lot of spectators anyways.
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