Formerly | Spectacor (1974–1996) |
---|---|
Company type | Subsidiary |
Industry | Professional sports |
Founded | 1974 |
Founder | Ed Snider |
Headquarters | , U.S. |
Key people |
|
Parent | Comcast (1996–present) |
Subsidiaries | |
Website | comcastspectacor |
Comcast Spectacor is an American sports and entertainment company based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It owns the Philadelphia Flyers of the National Hockey League, the Philadelphia Wings of the National Lacrosse League, the Seoul Infernal[1] of the Overwatch League, and formerly owned the Philadelphia 76ers of the National Basketball Association and the Maine Mariners of the ECHL. The company owns and manages the Wells Fargo Center and formerly managed the Spectrum in South Philadelphia, plus several community skating rinks in the Philadelphia region. The Comcast SportsNet (CSN) regional sports networks were also owned by Comcast Spectacor prior to parent company Comcast's acquisition of 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 Josh Harris in 2011. In April 2016, Snider died at his home in California. On September 22, 2016, Comcast announced that it would buy out the remaining 24% that it did not already own.[2]