July 06, 2023
The years-long renovation of the Wells Fargo Center, which is now getting toward the end of a massive $400 million undertaking, has moved down to the ground floor and the spaces that directly affect its teams.
On Thursday morning, in a behind-the-scenes look for the media, the arena's tunnels were stripped down, dug out, and echoing the sounds of ongoing construction. But in the middle of it all sat architectural renderings depicting what the work was moving toward and expected to be done by in time for the Flyers' first home preseason game on Sept. 30.
The images showed a new Flyers locker room, constructed with every stall forming into a circle and with an illuminated version of the crest hanging above, and they showed a few sleek lounge rooms too, which will cater to the players, team execs, and their families.
That isn't everything though. The visiting locker rooms are getting an overhaul, the ones for the officials too – especially to accommodate for the growing number of female referees in professional sports – there's going to be a new media center installed, training, medical, and recovery spaces are in for an upgrade as well, and so are the video rooms and the tech going into them, all while the Sixers have their owned carved out locker room space (about 14,000 square feet) that they're developing on their own terms and funding.
The before and after for the event level of the arena between this coming season and the last is going to be extreme, and, as Wells Fargo Center president Phil Laws noted, a far cry from what the building was working with when it first opened back in 1996.
"All the people that surround the team, even though the roster [size] stayed the same, everything has gotten so much larger around them," said Laws, who's been the lead on the Wells Fargo Center's transformation since it started in 2016. "Technology has changed a lot. It's not just a whiteboard where you're drawing out plays. The sophisticated video equipment needed to analyze and break down a game or a play, it takes up space, and the teams really need this room to have a modern, brand-new facility that was reflective of the two great teams that are going to have this space."
And for the people who keep them going.
What it will look like at the end of September: pic.twitter.com/OaLPLrFLXk
— Nick Tricome (@itssnick) July 6, 2023
Much of Laws' emphasis on Thursday was put on the comfort of Flyers and Sixers players and families, which those downstairs lounge spaces in particular are being carved out and built to accommodate.
The spouses and kids of players and coaches can sometimes spend just as much time at the arena during the season, Laws explained, so his team wanted a place where they would always be able to go, even as a given player's kids grow older.
"As teams evolve, family situations evolve," Laws said.
And so too does the building they play in, now quickly approaching its 27th year.
So again, the Sixers have their own dedicated locker room space within the arena that they're fully responsible for.
However, their lease with the Wells Fargo Center is up in 2031 and they've been blunt about their ambitions of moving out by then in pursuit of their own arena in Market East.
It was the elephant in the room, and it was inevitably going to be asked about.
To that point, Laws said: "Listen, I think a lot of things can happen over the course of the next seven years. We want the 76ers to stay. They know we want them to stay here. No options are really off the table to make that happen. We're still hoping."
David Adelman, who is running the 76ers new arena project, recently told @CrossingBroad there is no Plan B to Market East in 2031.
— Dave Uram (@MrUram) July 6, 2023
Has Wells Fargo Center President Phil Laws given up hope that the Sixers will stay in South Philadelphia? @KYWNewsradio pic.twitter.com/fdt3AZc9OT
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