OPINION:
When Philadelphia 76ers owner Josh Harris first came back to the city last season with the newest franchise in his sports empire — the Washington Commanders — for a game against the Eagles, this was the welcome he received:
A plane pulling a banner above Lincoln Financial Field read, “Josh Harris. Go Away. XOXO. Philly Chinatown,” a reaction to his plans to build a private arena for his NBA team near the city’s Chinatown neighborhood.
He will be bringing his Washington football team back to Philadelphia on Sunday afternoon under different circumstances.
He won’t be bringing a losing Ron Rivera squad to the Linc for a regular season contest.
Instead, he will be triumphantly arriving with a Dan Quinn-led team featuring star quarterback Jayden Daniels for a showdown with the favored Eagles in the NFC championship game.
After putting together an ownership group to buy the Commanders from hated owner Dan Snyder in July 2023 for $6 billion and overseeing the remarkable turnaround of the beleaguered franchise, Harris, born in Chevy Chase, could be crowned king of Washington, a celebrated savior.
In Philadelphia, some would like to see him exiled.
The bitter battle over trying to put a new $1.3 billion privately funded arena near the Chinatown section of the city is over.
The 76ers backed out of their plans earlier this month and instead opted for plans for a new partnership with Comcast to continue to share a home with the Flyers in a new arena in the South Philadelphia Sports Complex, where the existing Wells Fargo Center is located, along with the Phillies’ Citizen Bank Park and the Eagles’ Lincoln Financial Field.
But the reaction may not be much different — few in Philly will be crazy about seeing the 76ers owner back in town.
A 76ers fan posted on Reddit this week, “When can we start the ‘You’re Not Welcome Here, Josh Harris’ protest campaign.”
Fans of the 76ers have had a much longer and far different relationship with Harris than Commanders fans.
He and his ownership group — including his business partner David Blitzer — purchased the franchise for $280 million in 2011 and immediately took steps to win over 76ers fans by cutting ticket prices for thousands of seats and launched a website called “NewSixersOwner” to get feedback. They hired former Houston Rockets executive Sam Hinkie, who engineered a tanking procedure known as “The Process” that eventually led to a turnaround on the court and seven straight winning seasons.
Five of those seasons were 50-plus wins. If Harris owned the Washington Wizards, who have not won 50 games in a season since 1979, there would be statues of him on every corner in the District’s Chinatown neighborhood.
But the 76ers have disappointed in the postseason and are currently struggling with a 15-27 record. Their star player, Joel Embiid, has not been able to stay healthy and has been criticized for his conditioning and declaration several months ago of refusing to play back-to-back games for the rest of his career. Embiid shoved a Philadelphia columnist in a locker room argument earlier this season.
But perhaps more damaging was the bitter neighborhood battle that took place over Harris’ plans for a private arena near Chinatown. The proposed facility ran into a buzzsaw of community opposition that dominated the news in the city for three years and put pressure on elected officials. So when the 76ers shocked everyone by abandoning those plans — even after the city council approved the arena despite protests — some of the bad blood has remained.
“We’re glad that the Sixers will remain in the stadium district where they best belong,” city council members Jamie Gauthier and Rue Landau said in a joint statement. “But the way they reached this decision reflects a profound lack of respect for city leaders, stakeholders and residents.”
Saying goodbye to Philadelphia might not be a bad idea for Harris.
From various accounts, he had to work to put together an ownership group to come up with the $6 billion to buy the Commanders. Now they will likely be faced with coming up with perhaps as much as $1.5 billion or more of their share for a new stadium, whether at the RFK site or next to the existing Northwest Stadium in Maryland.
Selling the 76ers would seem to go a long way to help with the Commanders’ share for a new football stadium. It may soon be the right time to do so.
The value of all NBA franchises will likely get a boost from the anticipated sale of the currently-one-the-market Boston Celtics, who could go for as much as $6 billion.
That figure is expected to establish the entry fee in any upcoming NBA expansion, which may happen soon. That would also influence the sales price for any other existing NBA team like the 76ers, who, according to a December Sportico report, are valued at $4.57 billion.
Once Harris gets the new arena deal signed, it may be time to cash out of the league. After all, it can’t be much fun owning the 76ers these days — certainly not like being the hometown hero in Washington.
Harris should just take the NFC championship trophy with him when he leaves Philadelphia Sunday night and say adios to the City of Brotherly Love.
• You can hear Thom Loverro on The Kevin Sheehan Show podcast.
Correction: An earlier version of this column incorrectly reported the location of the proposed new arena for the Philadelphia 76ers. It would have been near Chinatown.
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