A new twist in the 76ers’ arena negotiations could complicate the team’s promise to forgo city taxpayer support

The 76ers have long said the team would not seek city taxpayer support for its proposed Center City arena, a key talking point for the team in the coming City Council debate over whether to approve the controversial project.

But a new twist in the negotiations between the team and Mayor Cherelle L. Parker’s administration could complicate that promise.

The team is requesting that its deal with the city include a provision that could allow the 76ers to receive local taxpayer backing in the future, according to a person with knowledge of the negotiations. The provision would apply only in the event that the city subsidizes a different Philly sports facility after the proposed basketball arena gets approved, said the person, who was not authorized to discuss the talks publicly and spoke on the condition of anonymity.

In that event, the 76ers would retroactively receive the same subsidy that the owners of the new facility get, the source said.

» READ MORE: City releases long-awaited studies on impact of a downtown Sixers arena

Councilmember Mark Squilla, who will play a pivotal role in deciding the arena’s fate because his district includes the proposed site, said Thursday that he has also heard that the team is requesting such a provision.

“If they commit to no city dollars and another arena gets built, then [the 76ers] would get the same thing” as the second arena’s owners, Squilla said, describing the provision. “If somebody, say, Comcast wants to build a new arena and they say, we need $200 million — if we give them $200 million, then you have to go back and give the 76ers $200 million.”

Squilla said he has not confirmed with the team or Parker’s office whether the request is a key part of the negotiations. But he said it was described to him as a “most favored nation” clause.

In international trade, “most favored nation” status means that a designated country cannot be treated worse than any other nation and is entitled to any benefits awarded to other countries, such as lower tariffs. Applied to the arena debate, it could mean that the Sixers would be entitled to any future benefits given to other arena owners by the city.

Parker has asked the Sixers to drop their demand for the provision, the person with knowledge of the talks said, and the team’s reluctance has been a barrier in negotiations.

“That is the holdup,” the person said.

Asked for comment Thursday, neither the administration nor the 76ers confirmed or denied that the team has asked for such a provision.

“We continue to have good, productive and thoughtful conversations with the city and we hope to be able to come to an agreement that will allow the needed legislation to be introduced in Council in the coming weeks,” a 76ers spokesperson said. “As we have said repeatedly, time is running short for the 76ers to be able to construct a new arena in time for the 2031-32 season. Beyond that, we won’t comment on ongoing negotiations.”

A spokesperson for Parker declined to comment.

The 76ers’ proposal is expected to be the top item on Council’s agenda this fall. Parker’s administration late last month released long-awaited studies on the project that provided a mixed picture on the potential impacts of building an arena between 10th and 11th Streets and between Market and Filbert Streets.

The team and the administration have been hashing out a tentative deal for months. Parker has been intimately involved in the negotiations. She has spoken positively about the project but has not officially endorsed it. If she does, the administration will send Squilla authorizing legislation to introduce in Council.

“I definitely do know for a fact that her and her team have been working diligently, even over the holiday weekend, on this particular deal,” Council President Kenyatta Johnson said Thursday.

Johnson said that if legislation were introduced soon, a final vote on the arena could take place before lawmakers adjourn for their winter break in December.

In Squilla’s view, adding the provision on retroactive city payments to the 76ers would create a deterrent that could also prevent future stadium or arena projects from getting city subsidies because future city leaders would then have to pay double. That likelihood, he said, could, in turn, make the 76ers deal more attractive to his Council colleagues now.

“I would say that it makes it almost impossible to give any arena money,” he said.

But for critics of the proposal, the request is likely to cement concerns about the sincerity of the 76ers’ pledge to forgo taxpayer support.

Vivian Chang is an activist with the Save Chinatown Coalition, a group that opposes the project out of concern that it could cause irreparable harm and displacement in the historic Asian immigrant neighborhood adjacent to the proposed site.

“It’s clear that the Sixers’ billionaire owners — whose claims of not using public money were always misleading — are after our tax dollars,” said Chang, who is also the executive director of Asian Americans United. “They want a subsidy set in stone to potentially line their pockets down the road. How much more taxpayer money will be put at risk for this unpopular project?”

Although the team has said repeatedly it will not take city money for the arena, there have been questions about whether some aspects of the proposal would constitute city support. For instance, the team has proposed donating the arena’s real estate to the city and making payments in lieu of taxes, or PILOTs, instead of paying the property tax — a common arrangement for sports facilities that would save the team millions.

» READ MORE: Philly stadium owners don’t pay property taxes. Here’s what that means for the Sixers’ arena proposal.

But there has previously been no indication that the 76ers would accept direct support from city taxpayers.

The 76ers want to open the new arena in 2031, and they have projected it to be in use for at least 30 years. During that time, many of the city’s existing sports facilities will become dated and may need to be replaced.

The Wells Fargo Center — the Comcast Spectacor-owned facility that the 76ers are hoping to vacate — opened in 1996. The Eagles’ Lincoln Financial Field opened in 2003 and the Phillies’ Citizens Bank Park in 2004.

The 76ers have left the door open for support from other levels of government, with a spokesperson saying last year the team may explore “existing state and federal programs that this project qualifies for.”

One of those doors may have closed. While commenting on reports that New Jersey officials are trying to lure the 76ers to Camden with lucrative subsidies, Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro said last week he was confident the team would stay on this side of the Delaware River without taxpayer support.

“To show you just how much the ownership group of the Sixers wants to be in Philadelphia, they plan to invest their own money in building this arena,” Shapiro said. “They’ve not asked nor have I offered any state funding for their arena — nor will I — and I believe that Philadelphia is the exact right place for the Sixers to remain.”