Wachovia Center
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The Wachovia Center (formerly known as the CoreStates Center and the First Union Center) is an indoor arena located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It is the home arena of the Philadelphia Flyers and the Philadelphia 76ers. The arena was completed in 1996 on what was once the site of John F. Kennedy Stadium at a cost of $206 million, largely privately financed (though the city and state helped to pay for the local infrastructure). The building lies at the southeast corner of the South Philadelphia sports complex, which includes Lincoln Financial Field, Citizens Bank Park, and the arena's predecessor, The Spectrum.
The arena seats 21,600 for basketball and 19,519 for hockey. It has 126 luxury suites and 1,880 club seats. The arena was originally named for CoreStates Bank, which agreed to pay $40 million over 21 years for the naming rights, with additional terms to be settled later for an additional eight year period at the end of the contract. The naming rights were taken by First Union Bank in a merger in 1998 and then by Wachovia Bank in a 2003 merger with First Union. While under the First Union name, it was affectionately referred to as the "F.U. Center" by Philadelphians. Due to this, a name alteration was considered, the "First Union National Center." However, this was met with much derision from fans and athletes who played in the facility, such as former Philadelphia Flyers forward Brantt Myhres, who said the name change would make the building sound like a "circus venue."
Because of the 2004-05 NHL lockout, and later in the season, the unavailability of ice at the Wachovia Spectrum caused by other events at that venue, the Flyers' American Hockey League affiliate, the Philadelphia Phantoms, played selected games in the arena, including the entire 2004-05 Phantoms playoff schedule, including a record 20,103 in the Calder Cup clinching Game 4. This was repeated for the first two games of the 2005-06 season.
The building also set a record in February 2006 for the highest attendance for a college basketball game in the state of Pennsylvania when 4th-ranked Villanova hosted and defeated top-ranked UConn.
On December 6, 2002 popular rock band Guns N' Roses were scheduled to perform there on their Chinese Democracy Tour. The opening bands (CKY, Mixmaster Mike) went on to perform as usual, but the main act, Guns n' Roses, never showed up fusing a riot in the arena and causing thousands of dollars in damage. No reason was ever given for the no-show of Guns n' Roses, other than the public announcer of the building citing that one of the band members was sick.
In 2006, Billy Joel set a complex record for most sellouts at both the Wachovia/First Union/Corestates Center and the Spectrum. He and Bruce Springsteen have been trading that record for several years now.
On August 1, 2006, Comcast-Spectator announced it would be installing a new center-hung scoreboard to replace the original one made by Daktronics. The new scoreboard, manufactured by ANC Sports will be similar to other scoreboards in new NBA arenas such as FedEx Forum. An additional linear LED display lining the entire arena will also be installed between the suite and mezzanine levels. Other renavations for the buildings 10th year anniversary include upgrading the suites with more flat screen HDTV's, as well as changing ticket providors from Ticketmaster to New Era Tickets which is owned by Comcast.
[edit] Teams
The Wachovia Center is home to the:
- Philadelphia Flyers of the NHL
- Philadelphia 76ers of the NBA
- Philadelphia Wings of the NLL
- Philadelphia Soul of the AFL (Sunday home games only)
- The men's basketball team of Villanova University plays some of its high-profile home games here instead of at its much smaller on campus arena, The Pavilion.
[edit] Picture Gallery
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