How NBA commissioner Adam Silver put an end to a billionaires’ feud and helped keep the Sixers in South Philly

The deal that will keep the 76ers in South Philadelphia has its roots in Landover, Md.

On the afternoon of Dec. 1, Sixers managing partner and co-owner Josh Harris, who is also managing partner of the NFL Washington Commanders, hosted a group of sports business heavyweights at the football team’s home game against the Tennessee Titans.

The group included two other Sixers co-owners — David Blitzer and David Adelman — as well as NBA commissioner Adam Silver and Comcast chair and CEO Brian L. Roberts.

Roberts’ presence was notable. For several years, Comcast and Harris Blitzer Sports Entertainment, the 76ers’ parent company, had been feuding over the team’s efforts to move to a new arena when their lease expires in 2031 at the Wells Fargo Center, which is owned by Comcast Spectacor, a subsidiary of the Philadelphia-based entertainment, cable television, and internet giant.

In early December, City Council was on the verge of approving the 76ers’ proposal, over Roberts’ objections. But the path for Comcast and HBSE to reach an agreement that would make the proposal moot began at the meeting, which helped thaw the relationship among the four billionaires, according to sources familiar with the matter.

Negotiations over a potential collaboration between the two companies accelerated during the holidays. And on Sunday, weeks after Council approved the Center City proposal following a grueling legislative fight, news broke that the Sixers would stay in South Philly.

The two companies announced Monday morning they had entered into a “50-50 joint venture to build a world-class, state-of-the-art arena in the South Philadelphia Sports Complex that will be the new home of the Philadelphia 76ers and Philadelphia Flyers.”

Comcast Spectacor also owns the Flyers.

By most accounts, Silver was key to bringing the sides together.

The commissioner’s main priority was keeping the Sixers in Philadelphia regardless of which neighborhood they ended up in, according to sources with knowledge of behind-the-scenes conversations. As recently as the fall, the Sixers had entertained the idea of moving to Camden.

Silver, who has served as NBA commissioner since 2014, believed that having two competing Philadelphia arena projects in the same timeframe would be detrimental to both the city and the teams, according to the sources.

Silver had built a relationship with Roberts when the NBA negotiated a new broadcast rights and streaming deal with NBC and Peacock, which are owned by Comcast.

At a City Hall news conference Monday, Roberts said that partnership was “fortuitous.”

“A lot of friends in the city, in the government, all along this process have said we ought to really put Philadelphia first,” Roberts said. “And so I think about that moment, and when we had an opportunity to visit with Josh [Harris] and his team, we both got to what I think is the right place.”

Harris added: “Adam Silver said, ‘Look, guys, you’re fighting.’”

In July of 2024, Mayor Cherelle L. Parker visited Silver at the NBA league offices in New York. She outlined her goals and also brought up the possibility of bringing an NBA flagship store to Philadelphia, as well as the potential of adding a WNBA team to the city.

» READ MORE: Mayor Cherelle Parker called the Sixers’ decision to stay in South Philly ‘a curveball.’ Some say she just whiffed.

”You made your goals crystal clear,” Silver said of Parker at the news conference, which he attended virtually. “You told me that in addition to ensuring that the 76ers continue to play in a world-class arena in Philadelphia, you expressed a strong desire to bring a WNBA team to the city” and to help the city grow economically through a major project.

The deal unveiled Monday, he said, helps to accomplish or advance those goals.

The 76ers owners on Monday did not offer a clear explanation as to why the team abandoned the Center City project weeks after Council approved it.

“We didn’t really change our mind,” Harris said at the news conference. ”Actually, we were really committed to Market East, but ... our north star was doing the right thing by Philly.”

He added that “deals don’t come together exactly when you want them.”

Comcast Spectacor had offered to work together with the 76ers on a facility in the stadium complex long before the team pushed the Center City proposal through City Council. The 76ers for months maintained that the team would not stay in South Philly under any circumstances after its lease expired in 2031.

Harris didn’t say what changed in December when he and Roberts started making headway on a deal.

“We felt we could build a better arena [with Comcast], we could also revitalize Market East, and we felt that it was a one-plus-one-equals-three situation,” he said, “so we pivoted.”

» READ MORE: Mayor Cherelle Parker said the city will ‘start from scratch’ on 76ers community benefits agreement

Getting the two sides to come together was no small task given the enmity that had built up during the arena debate.

At one point, a Wells Fargo Center social media account took shots at the Sixers, describing their projections for the tax revenue that would be generated by the Center City arena as a “myth.” Adelman responded by accusing Comcast of “lurking in the shadows, hiding behind others, while it lobbies decision-makers and twists arms.”

Ryan Boyer, who leads the Philadelphia Building and Trades Council, a coalition of politically powerful unions, said Silver “put them together.”

“Listen, Comcast is now the media partner for the NBA, so obviously that played into the deal,” Boyer said. “The NBA is back on NBC. Peacock — they’re going to be streaming some games. So I’m sure that that partnership played a lot in this decision that you see now, as belated as it may be.”

Adelman, a developer and Sixers minority owner who was the face of the Center City proposal, said he was relieved that the two corporate heavyweights had come together.

“I don’t think there’s anyone more surprised than me that we’re standing here together today,” he said, “but having been on the opposite team the past couple years, I can say that being on the same team is a much better feeling.”

Staff writers Jake Blumgart and Anna Orso contributed to this article.