The Sixers’ idea isn’t new. Sports arenas around the U.S. have been built on or near transit.

These days, hardly anybody builds them like New Jersey did in 1979, when it broke ground in the Meadowlands swamp for a sports arena that would be surrounded by acres of parking. It housed the NBA’s Nets and the Devils of the NHL until both fled to dense urban centers with transit options.

The Devils play two blocks from Newark Penn Station, and the Prudential Center arena is connected to light rail. The now Brooklyn Nets play in the Barclays Center, served by 10 New York subway lines and the Long Island Railroad. In fact, the traffic engineer who helped design the center, which opened in 2012, slashed 51% of planned parking spaces, saying he wanted to “scare drivers away.”

For about 25 years, developers of sports arenas and city planners have increasingly prioritized easy access to mass transit — along with the usual amenities to keep fans around longer and spending more.

Transit clearly was on the minds of the investors who have floated the idea of building a new arena for the Philadelphia 76ers over Jefferson Station, a SEPTA hub in Center City served by 12 Regional Rail lines, the Market-Frankford Line, and a number of bus routes. It’s also within walking distance of the PATCO trains from South Jersey.

“What could be better than sports and transit? Now it can be in one place,” SEPTA General Manager and CEO Leslie S. Richards told The Inquirer.

She noted that a fan can travel from almost anywhere to see the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden, which sits on top of multiple transit and inter-city rail options.

“It’s nice to grab a bite in the city and meet up with friends afterward,” Richards said. If an arena were built above Jefferson Station, Sixers fans could do the same.

Here are examples of other urban sports arenas connected to public transportation.