Flyers fans cheer on at Wells Fargo Center. (Photo by Getty Images)
Beginning in 2014, Comcast began buying out its partners in Comcast Spectacor, concluding the last piece of the puzzle next week when they finalize purchase of the 24 percent owned by the late Ed Snider and his heirs.
Dave Scott, president and CEO of Comcast Spectacor, said the purchase has been approved by the board of the National Hockey League, which occurred Friday. Snider, who died in April of this year, had been managing partner. Now, Scott is.
Under Snider’s leadership, Comcast Spectacor grew through acquisition and mergers and accumulated a lot of small limited partnership interests. The buy back began in early 2014 with purchase of shares owned by Mich Sauers, who sold his Globe Facility Services (now Spectra Venue Management) to Comcast Spectacor, and by Peter Luukko, former president, who left the company. Snider also bought back interests held by Phil Weinberg, who is still EVP/general counsel of Comcast Spectacor and Charlie Neary and Nick Nicora, who sold their FanFare food service company to Comcast Spectacor and remain with the firm.
The final piece before Snider’s involved buying back shares owned by Ken Young, who sold his Ovations Food Services, now Spectra Food & Hospitality, to Comcast Spectacor 15 years ago. That buy-back closed in May.
“The good news about Kenny is he is staying on as a senior advisor to me for two years. We talk three times a week. I’m glad he didn’t just want to go. He’s still adding a lot of value,” Scott said.
While the value of Comcast Spectacor will not be disclosed, even in public company reports from Comcast, there will be reference to Snider’s shares in the Fourth Quarter report because that was a significant number.
For Scott, the whole process is the beginning of a new era for Comcast Spectacor. While honoring Ed Snider’s 50 years at the helm building the company, which includes the Philadelphia Flyers of the National Hockey League, Wells Fargo Center, Philadelphia, and the Spectra Group of Food & Hospitality, Venue Management and Ticketing & Fan Engagement, it is a new day.
What stays the same? “We’re competitive. We like to win. We have great people, great companies. We appreciate Ed’s vision for the Spectra Group,” Scott said.
“Brian Roberts [chairman of Comcast] would tell you, even though the company has gotten so large, he’s very proud of how entrepreneurial the company is. Even though it’s a public, large company, it operates really as a partnership,” Scott said.
Comcast is basically three divisions – NBC Universal under Steve Burke; Comcast Cable TV under Neil Smit; and Comcast Spectacor under Scott. The fact Roberts bought Snider’s 24 percent is a vote of confidence, Scott said. “It’s been consolidated with Comcast Corp. for 20 years, so nothing is really changing. We’ve always had the public reporting, their auditors come in every year.
“The last thing anyone wants to do is screw up this culture,” Scott declared. “Ed really developed this winning type of culture, starting with the team, then into Wells Fargo Center and Spectra. I’ve been here three years. The employees are so excited.” The synergy within Comcast will be a topic at the upcoming Comcast Spectacor leadership conference in Orlando in November with the top 100 employees.
“These are not easy businesses. It’s not your father’s cable TV company. We’re building a great team of people,” Scott said. “I couldn’t be more pleased with the Flyers’ part of it.” The Snider family is still very much involved, especially in the charitable and community aspects of the team.
The home opener is Oct. 20 and a big program is planned for that celebrating the 50th anniversary of the team Ed Snider built.
He continues to see benefits to being under the Comcast umbrella, particularly in procurement and purchasing, like “the food we buy and food they buy at Universal.” The Voice reality TV show on NBC resulted in a runner up event at Xfinity Live last year that went really well, he added, referring to the entertainment destination outside Wells Fargo Center.
“We overlap so much on the cable TV side. In our venue business, we overlay 80 percent of the cable clients,” he said. “It’s great to have those resources at the local level.”
Scott also sees growth for Spectra Presents, which did 50 events last year, especially if tied into some Comcast content. “I think we could do more with Spectra Presents. It could become bigger. We’re promoters now. We never took the risk until 15 months ago,” Scott said. “When you triangulate all of it, the pieces fit together pretty well.”
It’s a bigger vision of bundling, which Scott has been pushing the past three years with the rebranding under the Spectra names. More and more clients are what he calls “home runs,” contracting all three Spectra divisions.
What about acquisitons? “We’re always going to be opportunistic. We’ve never been in better shape financially,” Scott said. “Look at Comcast, it’s a company that likes to grow.”
As to leadership, Glen Brandeburg, the Wendy’s executive who became Comcast Spectacor COO, has left the company and Scott said the position has been eliminated. Things are working well under the district and regional VPs. He is, however, looking for a CEO for Comcast Spectacor to oversee the Spectra properties.
The new CEO will be someone familiar with mergers and acquisitions, he said. “The industry is ripe for consolidation.”
Paul Holmgren and Ron Hextall remain president and general manager respectively of the Flyers; and John Page, president of Wells Fargo Center.
Future plans also include improvements to Xfinity Live. The original district, which sits where the Spectrum used to be, cost $30 million to date. Cordish Companies are a 50 percent partner. The partners are currently meeting on plans to invest another $50-$100 million, adding hotels, retail space and entertainment and, most important, connecting it somehow to Wells Fargo Center. Comcast Spectacor plans to invest in Wells Fargo Center so that it looks out and brings the community in. “We really want to connect the parts,” Scott said. Philly is growing, partly driven by Comcast, which is opening a second tower in the city April 2017, bringing 5,000 new jobs into central Philadelphia, including 4,000 software engineers.
Interviewed for this story: Dave Scott, (215) 389-9552
