Phillies' Middleton, Flyers' Hilferty say South Philly sports complex renovation not aimed at 76ers

Comcast Spectacor CEO and Flyers governor Dan Hilferty and Phillies owner John Middleton made the case that the organizations' $2.5B plan to renovate and improve the South Philadelphia stadium complex "was necessary” and not an attempt to “thwart the Sixers' plan to leave the South Philly complex behind,” according to Mike Sielski of the PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER. Middleton said, “Nobody’s actively opposing the Sixers. They own their own team. They get to make their own decisions. They’re smart people. They’re experienced people. They’ll make what they think is the best decision for the Sixers, and all this does is try to show them that there is a path, if you stay in the sports complex, to get enormous economic benefit.” Middleton added, “Four of us are better than three of us.” Sielski wrote that means they “don’t want the Sixers going anywhere.” Hilferty said that he hoped “there will be funding by state and city sources” to cover the work that PennDOT and SEPTA would have to do. Middleton added that "federal dollars might be necessary, too.” But Hilferty said, “Everything inside, from hotels to restaurants -- we’re about to announce the construction of a 6,000-seat entertainment venue -- will be all privately funded." Hilferty said they felt like they have “extended the life of the Wells Fargo Center significantly with the things we’ve done," and "with this development plan, it will extend it even further.” He added, “At some point, we will need to build a new arena, and that’s still many years out” (PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER, 6/22).