Philadelphia is home to a multi-purpose indoor arena known as the Wells Fargo Center. The Philadelphia Flyers of the NHL (National Hockey League), the (AFL) Arena Football League's Philadelphia Soul, the Philadelphia Wings of the NLL (National Lacrosse League) and the NBA (National Basketball Association)Philadelphia 76ers all call the Wells Fargo Center home. Located in the southwest area of the South Philadelphia Sports Complex, this multi-purpose area includes Xfinity Live!, the Citizens Bank Park and Lincoln Financial Field.
Originally named Spectrum II, the Wells Fargo Center was built in 1996 to replace the Spectrum, located on the former site of the John F. Kennedy Stadium. This venture created the home arena for the Flyers and the 76ers and cost $210 million. Although the city and the state paid for the local infrastructure, most of the stadium cost was financed privately. The owner of the Flyers, Comcast Spectacor, owns the facility and Global Spectrum is the arena management company that handles the operations of the Wells Fargo Center. Throughout its existence, the arena has been known by multiple names due to bank mergers and naming rights deals. Some of the names include the Corestates Center (1996 to 1998), the First Union Center (1998 to 2003), the Wachovia Center (2003 to 2010) and the Wells Fargo Center (2010 to present). This change of name occurred when Wachovia merged with Wells Fargo and the naming rights were transferred to Wells Fargo.
In addition to hosting sports games for its main tenants, the Wells Fargo Center has been the host site for a number of athletic events, including the Stanley Cup Finals (games 1 and 2 in 2997 and games 3, 4 and 6 in 2010), the NBA Finals in 2001 and a host of other collegiate events for the NCAA (National Collegiate Athletic Association. In addition to these athletic events, the area has hosted 2 political conventions, including the 1000 Republican National Convention and the 2016 Democratic National Convention. Concerts and WEE events are also regularly found in the Wells Fargo Center. The arena has a seating capacity for concerts of 21,000 and a standing capacity of approximately 21,500.
For NCAA and NBA basketball, the Wells Fargo Center seats 20,301. Conversely, the arena can seat 19,454 for indoor NLL lacrosse and NHL hockey. In addition to this, the Wells Fargo Center has club-box suites and luxury suites, which increase the total capacity. There are 126 luxury suites, 1880 club-box seats and a number of public and private clubs along with a variety of restaurants to be enjoyed by its patrons. The production facilities, studios and offices for NBC Sports Philadelphia are also located within the facility.
On June 10, 2005, when the arena was known as the Wachovia Center, an indoor hockey game set the highest attendance record of 20.103. On this date, the Philadelphia Phantoms beat out the Chicago Wolves during Game 4 of the Calder Cup Finals in 2005. The attendance record was then broken on June 9, 2010, during the Stanley Cup Finals Game. During this game, the attendance reached 20,327. During this National Hockey League game, the Chicago Blackhawks beat out the Philadelphia Flyers in overtime. This was the first time since 1961 that the Chicago Blackhawks won the Stanley Cup. The highest attendance at a college basketball came occurred on January 29, 2017, when the University of Virginia lost to Villanova University. This National Collegiate Athletic Association game hosted a crowd of 20,907.
Comcast Spectacor announced on August 1, 2006, that it would replace the original scoreboard that was created by Daktronics and would be installing a center-hung scoreboard. The new scoreboard was manufactured similar to other scoreboard found in new NHL and NBA arena by ANC Sports. Additionally, between the mezzanine levels and the suites, a linear LED display was installed. Wachovia Centers 10 year anniversary boasted many upgrades including suite upgrades featuring additional flat screen HDTVs. Finally, the ticket provider was changed from Ticketmaster to Comcast Spectator's New Era Tickets.
Lou Nolan is the announcer for the Flyers games at the Wells Fargo Center. Lou Nolan has worked with the team since 1972 and moved from Spectrum when the team moved. The Villanova basketball game PA announcer is Jim Bachman and the Philadelphia Wings PA announcer was Kevin Casey.
