Is it possible that the Philadelphia 76ers are considering a move to Camden?

The deal to get that team a new arena in Center City, Philadelphia seems to have stalled, bringing about talks of other options. Option No. 2 may be to move to Camden on the other side of the Delaware River.

Philadelphia fans need only make a short drive from Center City, just across the Ben Franklin Bridge, before they reach Camden.

The 76ers already have its headquarters in Camden and it's where the team holds its practices.

But is this prospect of a move for real?

According to Gov. Phil Murphy, it is.

“We’ve been observing the lack of progress in Philadelphia, and we said, ‘You know what? We are going to raise this with them.’ We’re serious about it. They appear to be serious about it. We’ll see,” Murphy said.

Plans for the Sixers to build their new 18,000-seat, $1 billion stadium in the heart of Philadelphia called 76 Place Market East have stalled. It is partly due to pushback from people in nearby Chinatown who fear businesses and residents would be pushed out.

However, in spite of Murphy’s comments, team officials wrote, “We remain focused on bringing a state-of-the-art arena to Philadelphia, as we have been for the last four years. We are hopeful to reach an agreement with the city this summer to ensure legislation is introduced in early September, which will allow the 76ers to open our new home in time for the 2031-32 season.”

The team promised Philadelphia 12,000 construction jobs, 3,700 permanent jobs, plus $1 billion in tax revenue, with $800 million going to the city and $200 million to city schools.

That’s the kind of cash Camden could use.

Still, there is always the possibility that the team could be using New Jersey as leverage.

News 12 asked political analyst Micah Rasmussen about this situation.

“For sure, it is an opportunity for an organization to pit one government against another one - jurisdiction against another…There’s just a lot that makes sense about his that makes it less pie in the sky than usual…But the devil is in the details,” Rasmussen said.

The NBA left New Jersey 12 years ago when the Nets moved from East Rutherford to Brooklyn.