Comcast Spectacor

Comcast Sports Ventures

Trading name	Comcast Spectacor
Formerly called	Spectacor (1974–1996)
Type	Subsidiary
Industry	Sports management
Founded	1974 (1974)
Founder	Ed Snider
Headquarters	Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Key people	TBA (Chairman) Fred Shabel (Vice Chairman) Dave Scott,(President) [1] Gary Rostick, (CFO)[1][2]
Parent	Comcast (1996–present)
Subsidiaries	Spectra Wells Fargo Center Flyers Skate Zone Philadelphia Flyers Portland ECHL team
Website	Comcast Spectacor

Comcast Sports Ventures, doing business as Comcast Spectacor, is a Philadelphia-based American sports and entertainment company. It owns the Philadelphia Flyers of the National Hockey League, the upcoming Portland ECHL team of the ECHL and formerly owned the Philadelphia 76ers of the National Basketball Association. The company owns and manages the Wells Fargo Center and formerly managed the Spectrum in South Philadelphia (before that arena was demolished), plus several community skating rinks in the Philadelphia region known as Flyers Skate Zone. The Comcast SportsNet (CSN) regional sports networks were also owned by Comcast Spectacor prior to parent company Comcast's acquisition of a majority stake in NBCUniversal in January 2011; CSN is now operated through NBC Sports.

The company was formed in 1974 by Flyers founder and chairman Ed Snider as Spectacor, the parent company of both the Flyers and the Spectrum. Snider had been instrumental in getting the Spectrum built in 1967, and assumed control of the arena in 1971. He sold a 63% stake in Spectacor to Comcast in 1996, but remained as chairman of the renamed Comcast Spectacor. Shortly afterward, Comcast Spectacor bought the 76ers; as the Spectrum's owner, Snider had been the Sixers' landlord since 1971. Comcast Spectacor sold the 76ers to Joshua Harris in 2011. In April 2016 Ed Snider died at his home in California. On September 22, 2016, Comcast announced that it will buy out the remaining 24% it does not own.^[3]

Spectra Experiences

Comcast Spectacor is the principal owner of Spectra (formerly Global Spectrum, Ovations and Paciolan). Globally, Spectra serves 300-plus clients at more than 400 properties including public assembly facilities throughout the United States and Canada, such as arenas, civic and convention centers, stadiums, university convocation center, trade and exposition centers, community ice rinks and theaters. Some of the arenas and stadiums currently managed by Spectra are:

• Atlantic City Convention Center and Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, New Jersey^[4]
• Augusta Entertainment Complex in Augusta, Georgia
• AutoZone Park in Memphis, Tennessee; currently managing team marketing and stadium operations until the Memphis Redbirds Foundation can find a buyer for the team and ballpark.
• Watsco Center at the University of Miami in Miami, Florida
• Budweiser Gardens in London, Ontario, Canada
• Chaifetz Arena at Saint Louis University in St. Louis, Missouri
• Cleveland State University Wolstein Center, in Cleveland, Ohio
• Cross Insurance Arena in Portland, Maine
• Cross Insurance Center in Bangor, Maine
• Duke Energy Convention Center in Cincinnati, Ohio
• The Fargodome, located in Fargo, North Dakota
• Tribute Communities Centre in Oshawa, Ontario, Canada
• Glens Falls Civic Center in Glens Falls, New York
• Las Cruces Convention Center in Las Cruces, New Mexico
• Liacouras Center at Temple University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
• Lowell Memorial Auditorium, located in Lowell, Massachusetts
• Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum in Oakland, California
• The Ohio State University Value City Arena, in Columbus, Ohio
• Overland Park Convention Center in Overland Park, Kansas
• PPL Center in Allentown, Pennsylvania
• Talen Energy Stadium in Chester, Pennsylvania, a Philadelphia suburb
• Sioux Falls Convention Center in Sioux Falls, South Dakota
• South Okanagan Events Centre Home of the Penticton Vee's in Penticton, British Columbia
• Children's Mercy Park in Kansas City, Kansas
• St. Charles Convention Center in Saint Charles, Missouri
• Sun National Bank Center in Trenton, New Jersey
• CFE Arena at The University of Central Florida in Orlando, Florida
• University of Massachusetts Amherst William D. Mullins Memorial Center, located in Amherst, Massachusetts
• University of Massachusetts Lowell Tsongas Center, located in Lowell, Massachusetts
• University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale, Arizona
• Wells Fargo Arena (Des Moines) which is part of Iowa Events Center in Des Moines, Iowa
• Wells Fargo Center is in Spectra's corporate hometown of Philadelphia. The Wells Fargo Center's predecessor, The Spectrum, is the namesake of the company.
• WFCU Centre in Windsor, Ontario.
• Xfinity Arena in Everett, Washington.
• XL Center in Hartford, Connecticut

Spectra is composed of three divisions: Venue Management (formerly Global Spectrum), Food Services & Hospitality (formerly Ovations Food Services), and Ticketing & Fan Engagement (formerly Paciolan).

On June 12, 2017, Learfield, acquired Spectra's Ticketing & Fan Engagement division - formerly known as Paciolan - from Comcast Spectacor.^[5]

Other businesses

Comcast Spectacor owns Ovations Food Services, which provides food and beverage services to arenas, stadiums, amphitheaters, fairgrounds and convention centers throughout the United States. The roots of the name Ovations go back to a restaurant in the Spectrum, which was located below the concourse.
New Era Tickets is the full-service ticketing subsidiary of Comcast Spectacor, and provides in-house ticketing in the US and Canada. In Philadelphia, the company operates under the name ComcastTIX and provides tickets to events at Wells Fargo Center, Liacouras Center at Temple University, Sun National Bank Center in Trenton, New Jersey, and the Borgata Hotel Casino and Spa in Atlantic City, New Jersey.

References

External links

• Comcast-Spectacor
• Spectra