December 09, 2015
Temple University's plans for a $100 million football stadium may be put on hold now that Mayor-Elect Jim Kenney has said he opposes it, reported the Philadelphia Business Journal.
Officials from Temple said that they would like to meet with Kenney after he blasted the stadium – and the Eagles – in an email sent to the Journal on Tuesday.
"If the Eagles were living up to their commitment to Philadelphia and our public university, just as the Steelers live up to their commitment to Pittsburgh by renting their stadium for free to Pitt's football team, there wouldn't be a need for a stadium at Temple University," he said. "There'd also be a winning team down at Lincoln Financial Field for a refreshing change."
Related story: Temple's Matakevich wins award for best defensive player of the year
Some students and North Philly residents also oppose the idea of spending money on a 35,000-seat stadium on campus instead of raising wages for campus workers. As Philly.com reported, around 50 people protested a meeting of the school's board of trustees on Tuesday.
A spokeswoman for Kenney said that he is concerned about how the stadium would affect the neighborhood. The Board of Trustees planned to discuss a potential feasibility study at their meeting but postponed the discussion after learning what the mayor-elect said.
Read the full story here.
