The 76ers are pushing back the timeline for winning over City Council on a Center City arena

The 76ers’ development team has for months said its deadline for winning City Council approval to build an arena in Center City is the end of 2023, which would have set up a high-stakes battle over the controversial plan during a lame duck session of Council.

But hours before lawmakers gaveled in their first meeting of the fall session Thursday morning, the team said it was relaxing its timeline.

“We have said from the start that we will follow the city’s lead and we’re willing to take the time to get this right. That’s why we announced the project eight years in advance,” 76 Devcorp spokesperson Nicole Gainer said in a statement Wednesday night, referring to the team’s plan to open a new arena in 2031. “While we will continue to work with urgency, we believe that a winter legislative process will likely make the most sense to allow time for the studies to be completed.”

» READ MORE: The future of a new Sixers arena shifts to City Hall after a year of contention

The team had initially said it needed Council approval by June 2023, making this the second delay of its timeline.

The move reflects the political realities of pushing through Council a controversial and complicated plan, which would require lawmakers’ approval for zoning changes, the closure of one block of Filbert Street, and other measures.

Despite the delayed timeline, supporters and opponents of the new arena showed up at City Hall as Council reconvened Thursday, providing a preview of the heated debate to come. Anti-arena activists sought out Council members while a carpenters union truck with a digital billboard touting the plan circled City Hall. City financial reports show that the team’s lobbying arm has already spent more than $2 million to influence lawmakers.

The proposal has drawn vocal opposition from Chinatown, which abuts the proposed site; skepticism from Comcast Spectator, the 76ers’ current landlord at the Wells Fargo Center; and criticism from many urban design experts, who say an arena that is closed many nights of the year could prevent a revitalization of the East Market Street corridor.

The arena’s footprint would stretch from Market Street to Filbert Street, between 10th and 11th Streets. Councilmember Mark Squilla, whose 1st District includes the area and who will be the point person on the legislation, has cautioned the team against rushing it through Council.

There appears to be ample support for the project among lawmakers, thanks in no small part to support from powerful labor unions and Black business and religious leaders. But Council members don’t want to appear as if they ignored the concerns of Chinatown and other stakeholders by moving too quickly.

Squilla said Thursday that he was pleased to hear the team was changing its timeline.

“We’ve been telling them that for a long time,” he said. “I didn’t think we had the time to do it.”

Although Council won’t vote on the arena this fall, Squilla is moving forward with other steps. He has asked the City Planning Commission to initiate the Community Design Review required for large developments.

The review involves gathering nonbinding feedback on the project from a committee of architects and planners and the local registered community organization, in this case the Philadelphia Chinatown Development Corporation.

Squilla said he expects that the arena project will need to go through the review multiple times, given its scope and the likelihood that the design will evolve, but wanted “perfunctory, preliminary” input at this stage.

If the 76ers had stuck to their 2023 timeline, this fall’s Council session would have been a nail-biter. City impact studies are not expected to be released until next month. And Squilla has promised community members that he will allow them 30 days to review drafts of the enabling legislation before he introduces it in Council.

After that, the bills would have proceeded to what likely would have been a blockbuster committee hearing, including public comment from Chinatown advocates who fear that the project would displace their historic community.

The 76ers hope to begin playing in their new arena in 2031, after their current lease with the Wells Fargo Center expires. It’s not clear why the team has set such firm advance deadlines, but Gainer’s statement Wednesday may offer a clue.

The arena would replace part of the Fashion District shopping mall, which has been struggling to stay afloat. If the mall fell into bankruptcy, the 76ers could potentially be prevented from buying the parcel it needs.

Gainer’s statement noted that 76 Devcorp is “committed to doing our part to make sure the mall remains solvent while the process plays out.”

In response to a follow-up question, Gainer declined to provide details on how the 76ers plan to help the mall. ”Since Fashion District Philadelphia is owned by a public company, it is not appropriate for us to comment further at this time,” she said. “That said, a dark mall in Market East would benefit no one.”

Macerich, a California-based real estate investment firm that is the parent company of the Fashion District, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Delaying Council passage into next year means it will be one of the first major issues facing a new generation of City Hall leaders. Mayor Jim Kenney and Council President Darrell L. Clarke are both set to leave office in January.

Kenney, who is term-limited, has been supportive of the 76ers’ plan, while Clarke, who declined to seek reelection, has not indicated his position.

Kenney is likely to be replaced by Democratic mayoral nominee Cherelle Parker, who has spoken favorably about the project. The race to fill Clarke’s seat, meanwhile, may not be decided for months, with several lawmakers, including Squilla, vying for the job.

News of the Sixers’ delayed timeline took some of the drama out of Thursday’s Council meeting, where groups of supporters and detractors packed the chambers.

At 8 a.m., about 30 Chinatown supporters gathered outside City Hall to catch Squilla on his way into the building. With signs reading, “Mark, Your Words,” the demonstrators said they wanted to hold Squilla accountable for his statement at a meeting in Chinatown last year that legislation for the arena could move forward only with community support. He has since said he was speaking of multiple communities, not only Chinatown.

“I’m here to remind Mark Squilla he has a responsibility to the people who elected him,” said the Rev. Hannah Capaldi of the First Unitarian Church of Philadelphia. “The loss of Chinatown will be the legacy he leaves.”

The tone was deliberately light, and they caught Squilla on the way into the building as well as when he walked into Council. He cordially answered a series of questions about the process, and the protesters thanked him.

“I thought it was nice,” Squilla said. “They actually used some nice photos. Very passionate, folks that are there that are in opposition. And I think we need to address their concerns during this process. And we will continue to do that.”

Outside, a carpenters union truck circled City Hall, displaying signs trumpeting the arena and blaring the song “Here Come the Sixers.” A dozen or more men dressed in Sixers-blue T-shirts that bore the message “Pro Job, Pro Union, Pro Arena” attended the meeting but declined to speak with a reporter.

The 76ers have been waging a public and private campaign for more than a year to influence the debate over the arena.

The team’s lobbying arm, CBL Real Estate, has reported spending almost $2.3 million from April 2022 through June 2023, according to its most recent public reports with the city. It has hired two high-powered lobbying firms to help make its case, Hazzouri & Associates and Wojdak Government Relations, as well as other well-known Philadelphia political and public relations consultants.

They reported meeting with Kenney, Clarke, Squilla, a half-dozen other Council members, and numerous members of the administration.

But only about $259,000 of the team’s reported lobbying expenditures went to “direct communications,” which refers to outreach to public officials behind closed doors. The team’s lobbyists did not report giving any gifts to city officials.

A vast majority of the money went toward influencing public opinion through billboards, social media advertising, and news conferences.

“While we await the results of the city’s impact studies that are expected to be completed in October, we will make sure people have accurate information on 76 Place, host community meetings, and continue to collect feedback so that we can ensure this project serves our fans, the surrounding community, and the entire city,” Gainer said.

Comcast Spectacor, which owns the Wells Fargo Center, reported about $30,000 in lobbying expenses from January to March of 2023 for meetings with Council members about the “economic development impact of Wells Fargo Center and stadium complex.”

The company did not report any expenses related to the arena in the most recent filing period, which ended in July 2023.

But Spectacor is now reaching out to lawmakers to push back on what it views as inaccurate statements from the 76ers regarding the Wells Fargo Center.