No New Stadium in North Philly
Temple Board of Trustees
Temple University is planning to build a 35,000 seat football stadium in a residential neighborhood in North Philadelphia. Despite Temple's recent agreement to continue using Lincoln Financial Field for football games through 2018, the University has not canceled plans to build a new stadium. The strained relationship between Temple and the surrounding community stems from decades of disrespect and displacement. Stadium Stompers is a coalition of North Philadelphia residents and Temple University students & alumni organized against the stadium proposal. Since the fall of 2015, the group has put pressure on the Board of Trustees and local legislators to reexamine the relationship Temple University has with its neighboring communities and to end projects that displace longstanding residents.
For over a year, Stadium Stompers has led community actions and interventions against the proposed stadium and has garnered national media coverage of the issue. Incredibly, despite evidence that the stadium will harm the community and that on-campus sports stadiums often do not generate intended revenues for universities, Temple’s Board of Trustees continues to push for the creation of a new stadium in North Philly. We need your help to demonstrate broad disapproval of this development.
To learn more about the Stadium Stompers, check out the Facebook Page.
Twitter: @StadiumStomper1
Petition by
To:
Temple Board of Trustees
From:
[Your Name]
I am writing to you in opposition to the 35,000 seat stadium Temple University is proposing to build in a residential neighborhood of North Central Philadelphia. A stadium will be bad for the University financially and will end any chance Temple has to repair its strained relationship with the surrounding community.
An on-campus stadium will irreversibly disrupt a historically black North Philadelphia neighborhood. Plans call for a clogged commercial sporting complex with tailgating, excessive noise, and traffic surges. This change is unacceptable for a stadium that would be located directly across from residential homes, senior housing, a playground, a recreational center, and a school.
Research repeatedly shows that on-campus sports stadiums do not generate their intended revenues for universities and often end up with yearly deficits. Tuition hikes, layoffs and wage cuts ultimately fund these projects. I believe it is irresponsible to jeopardize the educational integrity of the University for a risky venture.
We are all concerned that this stadium will have a detrimental impact on the entire North Philadelphia community.
As representatives of Temple University, I am asking that you act in favor of the surrounding neighborhood and student body, which is made up of local, national and international residents, and show that the foundational principles of education and the right to an equitable life outweighs the uncertain prospects of a football stadium. This is a turning point in which the university can put itself on the world's stage by being one of the first schools in the country to repair its relationship with the community in which it resides.
We are calling on you, the Board of Trustees, to reexamine the relationship Temple University has with its neighboring communities and to put an end to projects that displace longstanding residents. Stop the stadium plan now, and forever.