By Josh Liddick, Sports Talk Philly editor
Originally reported by The Inquirer's Keith Pompey, the NBA has finally made the announcement official.
The Sixers are headed to London on January 11 to play a regular season home game with the Boston Celtics.
Sixers in NBA London Game 2018 cool for lots of reasons, esp. given emphasis on/influx of international talent last few years.
πΉπ·π¨π¦π¨π²π¦πΊππ·π«π· pic.twitter.com/ws496Undjvβ Brian Seltzer (@brianseltzer) August 10, 2017
The decision is an interesting one, considering the Sixers just sold the most season tickets out of every team in the NBA including a franchise record 14,000 season tickets.
The question is: why play a game somewhere other than Philly against a team that will be a contender this coming season.
There is no question the Wells Fargo Center will be rocking this season. The only explanation I can think of would be to increase international exposure in other countries.
Brian Seltzer's tweet above does explain the notion of playing in Europe, especially with the influx of NBA talent on the Sixers roster.
The O2 Arena will be the site for the matchup, and it is a premier venue in London.
The Jacksonville Jaguars and Tennessee Titans are two professional sports franchises that have been continually linked to playing in London, but they are two franchises that have struggled with ticket sales.
For once, the Sixers aren't one of those teams this coming year.
It will take a little while to understand why the Sixers would do something like this, and whether this will be felt to be an honor or not when it's all said and done.