Comcast Spectacor and Harris Blitzer Sports and Entertainment announced Tuesday that Wells Fargo Center has been offered to the City of Philadelphia for general election activities this November. Comcast Spectacor owns and operates the facility.
According to a press release, Wells Fargo Center will be available for “such use as the City deems appropriate consistent with the requirements of applicable State and local election laws.”
Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie has also offered Lincoln Financial Field for use in the November election.
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"I don't think there's ever been a time when we all realized the importance of voting,” Lurie told reporters. “Voting has ramifications, as we know, and maybe it's taken some of us too long, myself included, to realize that, from lower down on the ballot to the highest levels. We have a very important election coming up on November 3, and one of the things we've offered to do is to open up Lincoln Financial Field to be a polling place if needed.
“We're also going to close our offices that day. We've also encouraged our staff to be volunteers in the pre-polling in terms of registration or any help we can to maximize people's ease of voting, no matter how they're going to vote. We want to see that happen. Too few people that are even registered to vote, I think it's like 60 percent, even vote in this country."
However, in a statement given to The Inquirer, Nick Custodio, deputy commissioner under Lisa Deeley, chair of the Philadelphia City Commissions, said the following:
"The Eagles and Sixers have reached out, though we have already identified more convenient locations for the voters of those divisions around the Linc and Wells Fargo Center. But it is great to know that they are available in case they are needed."
NBA
The news comes shortly after NBA players went on strike last week and subsequently reached three major commitments with the league on issues of social justice and racial equality. One of those commitments was that all franchises who own and control the arenas in which they play would convert those facilities to voting locations or, if that was no longer possible, “find another election-related use for the facility.”
The other two commitments were the formation of a social justice coalition comprised of players, coaches and owners, and for advertisements to be run during playoff games that “promote greater civic engagement” in elections and “raise awareness around voting access and opportunity.”
In a statement, Sixers president Chris Heck said, “The 76ers will continue to advocate for increased access to voting and use our platform to do good in our communities.”