Jason Kelce's passionate response to the agreement to Philadelphia and the 76ers on a new Center City arena.
Category
🥇
SportsTranscript
00:00Jason, your preference, Camden, Center City, Philly, the South Philadelphia Sports Complex,
00:06where would you prefer it be? I would prefer it stays in South Philly, unquestionably.
00:12And I'll say this, when it does get built in Center City and all of these people are displaced,
00:19at the end of the day, people are probably going to love it. In 10 years, all this is going to be
00:24different and we're probably going to be really happy that there's this beautiful complex that
00:28was developed down there and it's a thriving part of the city. But right now, I like, I really hate
00:34it. And part of me is like, I have scars from this, from growing up in Cleveland and watching
00:39Art Modell try and strong-arm the city and then move him to Baltimore. And I just, I really have
00:46a strong disdain for the fact that this guy strong-armed the city by threatening to move him
00:52out of the city. And all of these people that have devoted all their time, all their efforts,
00:57all their money and like a lifetime of fandom towards this team, and now you're going to
01:02strong-arm people against what the city wants. I really have a hard time being okay with that.
01:10I'm not okay with it. I think it's wrong. But that's how I feel. And I just, let me give you
01:16one more on that because I've said this in the air, I'll say it again. Part of what bothers me
01:20about what you just said there, not what you said, the Sixers ownership thing, I would have respected
01:25their position more if they less said it's about what's good for the city and more said what it's
01:32good for them. Yeah. They would not be doing this if it did not put additional monies in their
01:36pocket. That's why they're doing it. It has nothing to do with the city and the strong-arming
01:39the city. What do you do? Do you risk losing the Sixers? And like the only thing the fans can do
01:45is say, fine, move. We're not going to do it. And then we don't have a basketball team. And it just
01:49sucks. It just sucks that there's that much, um, you know, and this is part of, you know,
01:56the ownership group isn't Philadelphia. It's got a New Jersey devil's team, a Philadelphia team,
02:02and now a Washington team. And now they're forcing the city to do what this guy wants.
02:09And it sucks. But at the end of the day, like I said, at the end of the day, we're all going
02:14to be really happy with it. I do think that other than the people that get displaced out of Chinatown,
02:19and the people that aren't going to be able to live there anymore, the vast majority of fans
02:22are probably going to have a better interaction with a beautiful new stadium and outstanding new
02:27shops and retail and all in residential. It's going to be great. It's going to be fantastic.
02:34You know, it's just another, you know, whatever. Yeah. Jason, let me say part of this is like
02:39growing up in Cleveland. Like I went through this firsthand and I lost a football team for
02:42three years. So I get the mayor's position and why they're doing this, but it sucks.
02:47And I just don't think that amount of, you know,
02:53disrespect towards the citizens that allow you to have this team is appropriate.