Comcast Spectacor’s Hilferty speaks out on Sixers’ complaints about the Wells Fargo Center

Comcast Spectacor Chairman Daniel Hilferty insists he’s not frustrated by the Sixers, though the team has had little good to say about its home arena, which his company owns and operates.

But, Hilferty said in a July 24 interview with The Inquirer, he does want to address the basketball team’s assertions about its treatment at the Wells Fargo Center.

For example, he said: No, the Sixers are not forced to pick their schedule from a batch of leftover dates after the Comcast Spectacor-owned Flyers have grabbed the prime slots.

The process has been the same for years: Concerts and shows are blocked out, then both teams pick dates in turn, one after the other. The Sixers choose first.

And no, Hilferty continued, the center’s $400 million renovation has not produced “cosmetic” changes, as the Sixers leadership has claimed in its eagerness to depart the venue. The multiyear makeover created what Hilferty and his team describe as an essentially new arena, brimming with high-end restaurants, seating and concessions.

Hilferty’s pique has grown as the Sixers, proceeding with plans to build their own arena near Philadelphia City Hall, have criticized the center on what the team hopes is its way out.

He said it was important to clarify, because he found himself running into “business people or folks on the street, who would make comments about the ‘cosmetic improvements,’ having not been to the Wells Fargo Center, and the scheduling issue as if it were factual.”

The tenant Sixers responded: “Despite Mr. Hilferty’s attempts to obfuscate the truth,” said Nicole Gainer, a spokesperson on arena matters, the Sixers “are at a distinct scheduling disadvantage.”

The lease states that Comcast Spectator first selects dates for concerts and family entertainment, she said, followed by a date-by-date draft of days by the Sixers and Flyers.

That’s different from the assertion by lead developer and Sixers co-owner David Adelman that the Sixers are forced to set their schedule after the Flyers have chosen.

Gainer said the Sixers want maximum control over their schedule and over the experiences of fans, players and employees, and owning an arena is the best way for the team to achieve that. The Wells Fargo Center, which opened in 1996, ranks among the league’s oldest arenas, she noted.

Renovation plans for the Sixers’ locker room also have been a point of debate.

“I’m appreciative of the cosmetic changes they’ve made,” Adelman told Forbes magazine in May. “That gets us through to the end of the lease. But it doesn’t help beyond that.”

The relationship between tenant and landlord is approaching a boil as Philadelphia debates the future of the $1.3 billion arena the Sixers plan to build at 10th and Market Streets.

The team insists the privately funded project would benefit all of Philadelphia — and like any business, it has a right to own and run a venue and to control the scheduling of everything inside it.

Comcast Spectacor, the local sports-and-entertainment arm of telecommunications giant Comcast, wants the Sixers to stay at Wells Fargo, wishing to prevent the loss of a major tenant and avoid the uncertainty of battling a new competitor for bookings.

The team faces risks of its own as the situation plays out. It intends to open the new arena when its lease expires in 2031, but city approval is far from certain.

At some point, both sides could face the prospect of trying to piece back together a marriage that one party actively sought to end.

Hilferty said he’s ready to offer the Sixers a 50/50 partnership — the team could own half the Wells Fargo Center and take half the revenue. He wants the Sixers to join the Flyers, Phillies and Eagles in a dramatic reimagining of the South Philadelphia Sports Complex, one that would transform the area into a destination.

Hilferty expects some construction to begin before the World Cup arrives in 2026, with or without the Sixers’ participation. And prior to the first shovel striking earth the company will hold robust conversations about the plans with its South Philadelphia neighbors.

Hilferty took over as chairman and CEO of Comcast Spectacor in March, having led the city’s successful bid to host World Cup matches and after serving as head of Independence Blue Cross.

He expects to make a formal presentation at some point to the Sixers owner, Harris Blitzer Sports & Entertainment, to lay out the particulars of a partnership and promote the benefits of all four major teams joining to reinvent the Sports Complex.

Hilferty acknowledged that the Wells Fargo Center eventually would need to be replaced, perhaps after 2040. He wants the Sixers to be a partner in that.

For now, both sides pledge to cooperate.

“We’ve enjoyed a productive relationship with their organization for many years,” Gainer said, “and will continue to do our part to be a fair, courteous tenant for the remaining years of our lease.”

Hilferty said: “I’m the eternal optimist and I tend to focus on, ‘How do we make this work for all of us, including the Sixers?’ If eventually they do depart, we will wish them well, but we will be out there looking to fill this arena — and this beautiful district that we envision — night in and night out.”