The owner and operator of Philadelphia’s Wells Fargo Center — home to both the NBA’s 76ers and NHL’s Flyers — has taken direct aim at the 76ers’ attempt to build a new downtown arena.

Responding to David Adelman’s appearance this week on the Front Office Sports Today podcast, Comcast Spectator said the chair of the 76ers’ arena development project misstated key components of the ongoing facility debate, which has increasingly roiled both the two organizations and the city at large.

“Philadelphians deserve the facts, not mistruths and distortions being said about the new Wells Fargo Center, game and event scheduling, and more,” a Comcast Spectator official told Front Office Sports.

Among the items under dispute is that Wells Fargo Center ranks “near the bottom in every major category” in an NBA fan satisfaction survey, according to Adelman. That league survey, obtained by Front Office Sports, indicates the current arena ranks 14th in the NBA on overall game experience satisfaction, and either matches or approaches overall league averages in several categories ranking arena operations and game experience. 

Adelman also said Comcast Spectacor “scrapes” more than 200 calendar days per year at the arena for events and concerts beyond 76ers and Flyers games, a figure the company says is “neither true nor mathematically possible.”

Adelman did correctly say that 28 of 30 NBA teams play in downtown arenas, with only San Antonio’s newly renamed Frost Bank Center joining Wells Fargo Center outside its city center. 

Comcast Spectator has sought to counter Adelman’s plan with a $400 million renovation, as well as a supplemental development project at the sports complex in South Philadelphia to be announced later this year. 

Adelman said the Wells Fargo Center improvements were “cosmetic” in nature, but the company argues that “nearly everything but the foundation, steel, and concrete has been replaced with state-of-the-art materials and amenities.”

The 76ers’ lease at Wells Fargo Center expires in 2031.

ESPN Bet will launch sometime in November, PENN Entertainment announced during an earnings call on Wednesday, as the company pivots from Barstool and rebrands its sportsbook during the beginning of the football season.

Company president and CEO Jay Snowden is bullish on using the final two months of 2023 to set up ESPN Bet for a strong run through the NFL playoffs, Super Bowl, and March Madness. “We’re going to be out there launching at a time where, maybe with everyone else, new customers have burned through those promotional dollars on first-time deposit matches.”

PENN will match its annual $150 million payment to ESPN with equal marketing spend, bringing its total investment in this venture to at least $300 million per year. “We’re certainly not going to be cheap about our approach,” Snowden said. 

Combined with the $500 million in warrants PENN is granting to ESPN, that brings its total investment up to $3.5 billion over the 10-year deal.

Snowden is confident that reaching 20% of the U.S. online sports betting market share is attainable, with ESPN’s robust live sports portfolio driving consumer interest: “The key differentiation for us … is going to be the things that we can do around media integration, video, and maybe potentially live streaming. There’s a lot of things that we can do, because of who our partner is here, that others won’t be able to.”

Still to be determined is if and when PENN’s retail sportsbooks will take on physical ESPN Bet branding. “ESPN folks have not had a chance to visit our properties yet,” Snowden explained. “So, we’re going to go through a process, and there could be potentially some ESPN-branded retail sportsbooks on plan.”

Multiple times during the call, Snowden pointed to a planned investor day in December for more updates on specific plans beyond the launch, claiming that 2025 would be the year he expects to “start to see the returns” on investment.

The Arizona Coyotes have found a new plot of land to potentially build a new arena and remain in the Phoenix market.

Less than three months after a stinging ballot-box defeat for a proposed arena and mixed-use development in Tempe, the Coyotes and team owner Alex Meruelo have signed a letter of intent to purchase a plot of land in Mesa as the possible site of a sports arena and entertainment district.

The project would seek to replicate the core of the $2.1 billion project proposed in Tempe, including a 16,000-seat arena, hotels, shops, restaurants, and housing.

Since the Tempe rejection, both the Coyotes and NHL had been adamant about remaining in the Phoenix area if possible. The Coyotes, however, have no intention of pursuing another referendum approval. Team president Xavier Gutierrez said in June, “Our goal is to try to get to a straight line and have a resolution as quickly as possible.”

“The Coyotes remain committed to building the first privately funded sports facility in Arizona history and ensuring the Valley as the club’s permanent home,” the team said Wednesday. 

Located in the Phoenix area’s East Valley, Mesa is also home to two MLB Cactus League complexes: the Chicago Cubs’ Sloan Park and Hohokam Stadium, the Spring Training home of the Oakland A’s.

Even with the letter of intent for the land purchase, the Coyotes said they’ll continue to explore other potential development sites in the East Valley. For now, the team remains at Arizona State University’s 5,000-seat Mullett Arena.

The Coyotes’ local TV situation, however, remains tenuous amid ongoing turmoil with Bally Sports Arizona and its bankrupt parent, Diamond Sports Group.