Harris Blitzer Sports & Entertainment, the ownership group for the Philadelphia 76ers, has put in a bid for a WNBA expansion team, The Atheltic's Mike Vorkunov reported Friday.
Word of a submitted bid follows the announcement of a new arena for the South Philadelphia Sports Complex, which will be jointly paid for and owned by HBSE alongside Comcast Spectacor, the owner of the Philadelphia Flyers and the two teams' current home at the Wells Fargo Center.
Their plans for the new arena – expected to be completed by 2031 – and a revitalized Sports Complex along with it, also included a promise to push for a WNBA team when it was all made official earlier this month, and came with the backing of prominent voices for women's sports such as comedian Wanda Sykes, who lives part-time in Delaware County.
"I don't think our odds could be any more favorable than the position we're in right now," Sykes said of Philadelphia landing a WNBA team during a City Hall press conference detailing the new arena.
Philadelphia is a basketball-rich city and has had rumors and speculation surrounding its chances of landing a WNBA team go back the past few years, but they were always hung up on factors like the league's own health, the Sixers' lease agreement with Comcast Spectacor to play at the Wells Fargo Center and their own since abandoned plans for an arena at Market East, and the overall future of the Sports Complex itself.
But now with clear plans for the latter, the WNBA's path to Philly now seems its most direct, too.
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