Harris Blitzer Sports & Entertainment (HBSE), the multi-sport ownership group that controls the Philadelphia 76ers of the National Basketball Association (NBA) and the Philadelphia Flyers of the National Hockey League (NHL), has agreed a new arena naming rights deal with the Comcast Spectacor sports venue management arm of telecommunications giant Comcast.
Now, Philadelphia’s Spectrum II arena, home of the 76ers and the Flyers, will be named the Xfinity Mobile Arena after Comcast's titular mobile broadband brand, in a deal that will begin on September 1, 2025, and run through the 2030-31 campaign.
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The wide-ranging partnership will also see the arena furnished with Xfinity wifi services, with 76ers and HBSE chief executive Tad Brown stating: “Xfinity Mobile Arena will offer fans enhanced connectivity and high-speed capabilities to maximize their in-arena experience. By focusing on new and emerging technology, Xfinity Mobile Arena will allow fans to create incredible memories at games, concerts and live events in the future.”
Multinational financial services firm Wells Fargo had been the title sponsor of the venue for the entirety of its 29-year history, but in 2024 announced that it would not seek a naming rights renewal after the expiry of its current contract, requiring HBSE to find a new title sponsor.
That sponsorship of the Comcast Spectacor-owned venue, which holds 19,000 at ice hockey games and 21,000 at basketball, was reportedly worth around $1.4 million per year.
The deal running through 2031 coincides with the coming departure of the 76ers from the venue upon the expiry of its lease in that year.
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By GlobalDataInstead of renewing, the NBA franchise is instead set to move to a newly constructed arena at the South Philadelphia Sports Complex, which will be co-owned as a joint venture between HBSE and the Philadelphia-based Comcast Spectacor, which formerly owned the 76ers prior to the HBSE acquisition.
Despite that fact, the Comcast Spectacor still undertook a $400 million renovation project at Spectrum II over the last year.
Alongside NBA and NHL fixtures, Spectrum II also hosts NCAA college basketball and athletics, National Lacrosse League fixtures featuring the Philadelphia Wings, and is a regular venue for professional wrestling giant WWE, which hosted its showpiece WrestleMania event there in 1999.
As of late, Comcast has sought to expand its mobile telecoms business, ostensibly given the ucertainty around the future of the cable TV market in the US, and in February it expanded its existing deal with motor racing's Nascar to make Xfinity Mobile the official mobile broadband provider of the Nascar Cup series.
