David Adelman Live From Sixers Youth Foundation Gala
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00:00Right now we are pleased and privileged to be joined by David Adelman. David, what's going on?
00:04How are you? Good to be here, man. It's going to be a fun night. It's going to be an absolutely
00:07fun night. We just spoke with Daryl Morey and I said it right to him right away. It's also fun
00:12that you're coming off of a win, back-to-back wins. Big win. 41 points in back-to-back nights
00:17for the big man and against Jokic last night. He showed who's boss. Yeah, absolutely. Right?
00:22That's why he's the MVP. Yeah, it's been a lot of fun so far this season. It has. It has. And,
00:27you know, Coach is here. You'll see him tonight, I'm sure, walking around. And what he's done with
00:31this team is just amazing. Really is. These guys love playing for him. You see it all the time and
00:36you just see, like, how intense they are. And I couldn't be more pleased. David, in the business
00:42world, when you have an organization like this and the way things are going and an MVP, how important
00:49is it for you as a businessman? We're all fans, as you are also. But how important is it for this
00:54team to get, you know, that championship run over the hump that they haven't been able
00:58to get to in recent years? Here's what I say to everyone. I'm a fan
01:02first, owner second. Exactly right. Okay. And for me, for
01:06Josh, for David, the whole organization, like, we want nothing
01:10more than to hang that banner. Love that.
01:14You love to hear that. So, when you, the person where
01:18you bought your ownership stake from, more or less, was a pretty popular guy
01:22in the city. Oh, don't tell him that. He's been my one of our best friends
01:26for 25 years. It's going to go to his head. Talking about Michael Rubin.
01:30Yeah. Yeah, look, he's my boy, but
01:32yeah, it's going to go to his head. So, you
01:34come in and also you start talking about a new
01:38arena. Now, I'm going to say
01:40for the record that I'm a big
01:42fan of the idea because I
01:44think this city has, somebody
01:46comes from out of town and they're going to
01:48an event. I think they should be able to
01:50see more than two square blocks in South
01:52Philly. That's my personal opinion. I think this is
01:54a world-class city. Yes. And I think
01:56that people from both locally,
01:59because some Jersey people, that's all they go.
02:00They go there and they go home. They don't go to the city.
02:03They should be able to see more of
02:04the city. But there was some
02:06pushback with that at the same time. So,
02:08you come in, you're part owner,
02:10you have these big, big ideas. What has
02:12that been like for you with some of the
02:14resistance? Look, I think that
02:16you know, it's hard because I'm
02:18Philly's my town. But, you know, Philly,
02:21I think people in Philadelphia
02:22think we don't deserve nice things.
02:25And we're okay with the status
02:26quo. And,
02:28you know, the status quo works for
02:30some, it doesn't work for me. And
02:32I want to see something great happen
02:34to our downtown. You know, COVID
02:36took its toll on the city of Philadelphia.
02:39It certainly took its toll on
02:40the center city area. And
02:42that market east used to be the center of
02:44commerce. Growing up, everyone went to the
02:46Wanamaker's department store. There used to be
02:48nine department stores on market
02:50east. There's one, Macy's, that's
02:52going to leave in the next couple of years.
02:54Their lease is up. And so, for me, it's just
02:56unacceptable that in the heart of
02:58our city, we have this desert,
03:01okay, boarded up retail.
03:02We have a mall that's not living up to its
03:04expectation. We all grew up at the gallery.
03:06And I just think Philly deserves better.
03:08And I know you don't want just to build a
03:09beautiful arena. You also want to do good
03:11for the community, right? You're not just
03:13bringing new life to that portion of the city, but
03:15you guys have plans to fix other stuff
03:18around that arena. Talking about the
03:20subway lines. So what are some of the
03:22plans for you that will also benefit the
03:24city and not just building a new
03:25beautiful arena?
03:26I think first it starts with activity,
03:28safety. You know, we've already said we
03:30want to build a police substation on
03:32market east to get, you know, make people
03:34feel comfortable going out at night doing
03:36things like that. Invest in security
03:37cameras, cleanliness. The truth is we've
03:40said we're going to do a $50 million
03:41community benefits agreement. That's the
03:43largest in the history of Philadelphia. The
03:45next biggest was $3 million. It's one of
03:47the largest in the country for a sports
03:49or entertainment complex. We're putting our
03:50money where our mouth is to make a
03:52difference. But I think you see it here at
03:54the gala tonight. Marjorie Harris, who's
03:56our board chair of the Sixers Youth
03:57Foundation, you know, she planned an amazing
03:59event tonight. And we're going to blow out
04:02that $1.5 million number tonight. You watch
04:04and see.
04:05David, I've been lucky enough to be at every
04:07NBA arena throughout the country when I
04:09covered the Sixers. Is there a model that
04:11you have? Because people come to me, they
04:12said, how could they do it downtown? Almost
04:14everybody in the East is downtown. Do you
04:16have a kind of a model?
04:17How about this? 27 of 30 NBA teams play
04:19downtown. Right. Here's what I like to say.
04:21If I was inventing the downtown arena, maybe
04:24Philly's not ready for it. We're going to be
04:25number 28, guys. Number 28, okay? It's a
04:28proven model. Whether you look at baseball
04:30and look at like the Chicago Cubs, right?
04:33Wrigleyville. That ability to come down
04:35before a game, have some energy, pregame,
04:38postgame, do all of that. You know, right
04:40now, your choice is to come to the game
04:42and then leave. I tell everyone, before I
04:44was an owner, I would leave with three
04:46minutes left so I wouldn't have to sit in
04:48the parking lot for 45 minutes. Our fans
04:50deserve a better pre- and postgame
04:52experience like the other cities have.
04:54Right? So to answer your question, when you
04:56think about other cities, I mean, look,
04:58Brooklyn would be an obvious one if they were,
05:00you know, they're kind of like the OG of the
05:02new downtown model, putting MSG aside for a
05:04second. But like, you know, look, I hate the
05:07Celtics, but Boston figured out 25 years ago
05:10how to do what I want to do, which is build an
05:11arena on top of a train station. Exactly. Right?
05:14And if you look at their vibe, you know, I
05:16spent, unfortunately, a lot of, it's bad memory
05:19of the playoffs, but I spent a lot of time up
05:20there and you see the way they utilized the
05:23neighborhoods pre- and postgame and even people
05:26who went down there and didn't even go inside
05:28for the game. But that energy, we need the energy
05:30back in Philadelphia. We need that energy back in
05:32center city. And that's what I want to do. Now,
05:34there's some people that would say, well, I don't
05:36go to games, blah, blah, blah. It's not a big
05:39deal to me. But at the same time, there's certain
05:42financial implications with this. If you talk about
05:44the Warriors dynasty, that salary, that luxury tax
05:47bill has gotten very expensive. So you can only,
05:51obviously you can't speak for all of the owners,
05:53but as an owner, can you make a pledge to the
05:55fans that if the team is successful and you guys
05:59are also making money with the new arena, because
06:02that is part of it, that you'll be able to spend
06:05money with the top teams to keep a possible dynasty
06:07together? Because I think people would care about
06:09that as well.
06:10Look, I think, look, you know, Josh and David,
06:13you know, they're the managing partners of the
06:14team. They care about winning. You know, we're in
06:17the tax right now. Okay. I think we've proven that
06:20we will spend money. This is not about money. We
06:23want to win. Okay. And so we are going to do it
06:25right. We're going to do it in a first class way. And
06:28you know, Darrell Morey's got the checkbook to do
06:30what he needs to build us a championship team.
06:32Now, Tyrone brought back, brought up that you have
06:34had some pushback regarding the new arena. What is
06:37some of the stuff that you've heard that you go,
06:40that's incorrect?
06:41Look, unfortunately, there's a lot of legitimate
06:43concerns and I've done over 110 meetings to hear
06:46those concerns because I think, listen, I announced
06:49this eight and a half years early. No one does that
06:52unless they want to create the best plan possible. And
06:55I think the whole point is there's pushback and then
06:57there's misinformation. Okay. You know, and so like
07:01the misinformation related to like what this is
07:03going, you know, so number one, I'm taking one
07:06entertainment complex, the gallery mall and turning it
07:09into another one, an arena. I'm not displacing one
07:12business or one resident in Chinatown. I'm not using
07:15eminent domain. Okay. And so like there's difference of
07:18what happened in other cities that really affected
07:21communities versus what we're doing.
07:22And I will say this to people that like Ty says on
07:26the outside looking in that will form an opinion
07:28without being informed. You guys came into the
07:31presentation for us early on, probably a year ago. It
07:34was over a year ago. And you know, I was amazed at the
07:38way you answered every question and you, everything
07:40was thought out. There's none of that. Do you have the
07:44patience? You said eight and a half years. Do you have
07:46that patience, David, or is it getting tougher as the
07:48years? I have been running at a marathon pace. I am
07:51spending substantially all my time on bringing a world
07:55class arena to Philadelphia and Philadelphia deserves
07:58nice things. We are going to create over a billion
08:00dollars of new tax revenue for the city of Philadelphia. We
08:03are not taking any city money. So that's one of the
08:05things people say, oh, they're going to take money. You
08:08know, look, I joke, the other NBA owners think we're
08:10nuts. Everyone else is getting a bag. Okay. And like I
08:14stood up 18 months ago and I said, you know, we're not
08:16going to threaten to move the team and we're not taking
08:18any city money. I lost all leverage to negotiate with
08:20the city of Philadelphia. I'm not looking to do that. I'm
08:22looking to take something where Market East is,
08:25revitalize it, build a world class facility. Why can't
08:27Philadelphia have the best arena in the country?
08:30That's exciting for me as a Philadelphian. I hear like you
08:35have a lot of love for the city. Where does that come
08:38from? Because some people, even people from here, don't
08:40love it here. Right. Why do you love this city so much?
08:44Look, I'm from this city. My business, you know, I have
08:47other businesses outside the Sixers that are located in
08:49Philadelphia. I employ a lot of people who are here. I want
08:52a safe, clean, vibrant city. And what I learned a long time
08:56ago, my grandfather said, if you've got a problem with
08:58something, if you're not prepared to make a difference and
09:00keep your mouth shut. So, you know, I get up every day trying
09:04to say, how can we bring this city back? How can we help public
09:08safety? How can we give people the confidence to come
09:10downtown? And if you think about where we were pre COVID, like we
09:13were hitting our stride, our food scene punches above its weight.
09:16Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Right. You talk about like the Michael
09:18Schultzen restaurants, these other guys, like it's just
09:21amazing. And so for us to be able to do that, we've got to get
09:24people to want to come back downtown. You're going to be
09:26able to take the train. You know, so here's what's
09:29interesting. Another piece of misinformation. Forty percent of
09:34our fans, season ticket holders, are in Center City. Okay. So we
09:39have the demographics that show people taking Ubers to the
09:44arena. We got data from Uber. Okay. Forty five percent of all
09:48Ubers to the arena emanate for Sixers games emanate from
09:53downtown Philadelphia. Our fans are already here. We're just
09:55bringing them to their home. Yeah, absolutely. Now, before we
09:59let you go, I'll let you take your business cap off for a
10:01second. We're at an incredible foundation tonight. What's the
10:03thing that you're most excited about? Look, I think the fun part is
10:06when you see how the players are walking around, taking
10:09selfies with everyone, I think it shows the commitment our
10:13players have towards doing good and doing well and how much
10:17they care about Philadelphia. And I think that's really
10:19important when the players align with the community and so
10:22they feel like there's that connection. Okay. Like that
10:26connection to me, like Pat Beverly's holding court with like
10:2920 people back there and he's having a time of his life because
10:33he loves this city, loves the fans. And I think being able to
10:36like see the players engage like that has just been really
10:38special. David, we appreciate it. We're really excited about
10:41the team this year. We're excited about everything in the
10:43future with the organization. Thank you for everything that
10:46you're doing with the team, with the city. We appreciate you
10:47taking some time. I appreciate you guys. Thanks for covering
10:49tonight and Tyrone looks smooth.