PHILADELPHIA — The 76ers and Flyers put out the first renderings of their planned South Philadelphia arena Tuesday, showing a stacked, cantilevered building on the old Spectrum grounds that the teams say will open in 2030 as home to both franchises and the city’s incoming WNBA expansion team.
The project dates to January 2025, when the Sixers abandoned a City Council-approved arena on East Market Street and partnered instead with Comcast Spectacor to build at Broad and Pattison. Tuesday’s release moved the opening up a year, from 2031, WHYY reported. That aligns the building with the WNBA’s calendar: when the league awarded Philadelphia its 18th franchise in June 2025, it set the team’s first season for 2030.
Populous, the Kansas City-headquartered firm behind the Barclays Center transformation, and architect Moody Nolan designed the building. The Inquirer reported the facade is composed of three stacked, cantilevered “bands” as a nod to the Spectrum’s exterior. A wide arrival stair fronts the site, meant to echo the Philadelphia Museum of Art steps, alongside more than a half-acre of outdoor space.
The renderings do not show a price. Harris Blitzer Sports & Entertainment and Comcast Spectacor have not released one. The $1.3 billion attached to the project in some coverage was the estimate for the canceled Center City building.
The partners describe the arena as the largest fully privately funded project in Philadelphia history and project it will create nearly 15,000 jobs and generate nearly $6 billion in economic activity over 10 years, with hundreds of millions in new tax revenue for the city and the School District of Philadelphia. Those are the teams’ own projections; no independent study has been released.
Nothing is approved. The partners want to break ground in early 2027, pending city approvals, and Comcast Spectacor chairman and CEO Dan Hilferty said in April that enabling legislation could reach City Council as early as this fall. None had been introduced as of Tuesday.
David Adelman, the developer who is chairman of the arena joint venture, wrote in a post on X on Tuesday that resident feedback “will continue through surveys, focus groups, community engagement, and public review throughout the design and approval process.”
The land is not theirs. The city owns the sports complex ground, leases it to the Philadelphia Authority for Industrial Development, and subleases it to Comcast Spectacor, which holds long-term development rights over 63 acres there, Bisnow reported in 2023. The site sits in Council President Kenyatta Johnson’s district, which under the chamber’s tradition of councilmanic prerogative gives him effective control of land-use votes.
Josh Harris, Harris Blitzer co-founder and 76ers managing partner, named him Tuesday. “We look forward to partnering with Mayor Parker and Council President Kenyatta Johnson to transform a site rich with history,” Harris said in a statement.
Johnson has set out a condition. “If we are going to move forward with a stadium, it should be a world-class stadium, but also there should be a component that brings alive that part of South Philadelphia, not only during game days, but all throughout the year,” he said after a Council session in April, PhillyVoice reported.
Mayor Cherelle L. Parker’s office did not respond to a request for comment from The Inquirer; the city posted the renderings with the line “Get excited Philly fans!”
The reaction is calmer than the Chinatown fight over the Center City plan. On r/philadelphia, the top thread leaned heavily toward approving the private financing, with the sharpest pushback from commenters expecting construction tax breaks. None have been disclosed.
Comcast has separately proposed a $2.5 billion redevelopment of the complex with stores, restaurants, a music venue, a hotel, and possibly housing and offices, WHYY reported.
The current building, Xfinity Mobile Arena, opened in 1996 and has taken $400 million in Comcast renovations. The Spectrum opened in 1967 and was demolished in 2010, The Inquirer reported. Comcast owns naming rights to the new building, which has no name yet.
The Flyers remain the parent club of the Lehigh Valley Phantoms, who play at PPL Center in Allentown.