Wells Fargo ending name right of Wells Fargo Center in South Philadelphia
Photo via Comcast Spectacor
The home of the Flyers and 76ers will be looking for their fifth new sponsor soon.
Wells Fargo & Co. plans to drop its name rights of the Philadelphia sports arena when the bank’s contract expires next year, Gillian Tan and Christopher Palmeri of Bloomberg reported Wednesday afternoon.
“Wells Fargo regularly reviews and adjusts our overall sponsorship strategy,” the bank said in a statement. “As such, we have made the business decision not to renew the naming rights contract to Wells Fargo Center.”
The deal ends in August of 2025, according to “a spokesperson for the Philadelphia-based media and telecom giant,” as the Bloomberg article titled the person. So presumably, it will be the Wells Fargo Center for at least the start of the 2024-25 Flyers and Sixers seasons. But, maybe it cannot come soon enough.
“We are grateful for our long-standing relationship with Wells Fargo and look forward to working with a new partner as we continue to bring the best sports and entertainment experience to fans in the Philadelphia region,” Comcast’s Spectacor unit said in a statement.
Wells Fargo has been pulling away from such sponsorships, taking its name off of a PGA Tour event last year and a Jacksonville office tower this year, per Bloomberg.
The South Philly arena has had five different names since it was opened in 1996. The arena was originally called Spectrum II before we got corporate. We have gone from the CoreStates Center from 1996 to 1998 to the First Union Center from 1998 to 2003, to the Wachovia Center from 2003 to 2010, and to of course the Wells Fargo Center. No one can survive the Center.
Wells Fargo acquired Wachovia in 2010, which changed the arena over to the Wells Fargo Center. Since, then, the Flyers have had a major decline, the Sixers went through the process, and neither team has made it past the second round. A curse? A coincidence? You be the judge.
The Wells Fargo Center just went through a major, $400 million renovation over the past few years, where it most notably added some LEDs and screens around the exterior, upgraded the club level, and redid the seats and upper level, along with some other things no one probably noticed. They were titling it “The New Wells Fargo Center.” Now, the 20,000-seat arena will be getting a new title.
Now, what should the new name be? The Wawa Center would be electric. Maybe The Tastycake Center. Or, what if we just went with The Center? But, hey, maybe they could make everyone happy and just call it The Spectrum.
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