Kenney, Temple Meet Over Proposed Stadium

Mayor-elect Jim Kenney was scheduled to meet Thursday with Temple University officials to discuss the university’s proposal for a new $100 million football stadium.

Lauren Hitt, Kenney’s spokeswoman, said he came to the meeting without an agenda.

“It’s an informational meeting. It’s a chance for Temple to share with the mayor how they came to this decision” and the factors guiding it, she said. “They asked for the meeting. We’re there to listen, and any next steps will be determined following that.”

The meeting comes just over a week after Temple’s Board of Trustees deferred discussion of the proposal after Kenney signaled his opposition with a letter to the Philadelphia Business Journal.

“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 wrote. “There’d also be a winning team down at Lincoln Financial Field for a refreshing change.”

The Inquirer reported Thursday that Pitt’s arrangement with the Steelers is not quite “free.” Pitt pays rent based on attendance, as well as a stadium-operations fee, and a share of the concessions.