Wells Fargo Center will become the Xfinity Mobile Arena on Sept. 1 after new naming rights deal

Gina Mizell, The Philadelphia Inquirer on May 6, 2025

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PHILADELPHIA — The home of the 76ers and Flyers will have a new name on Sept. 1, when the building becomes the Xfinity Mobile Arena following the expiration of Wells Fargo’s naming rights deal.

The agreement runs through the 2030-31 season, when both teams are scheduled to move into a new arena that will be built at the South Philly sports complex. Comcast Spectacor, which owns the current building and the Flyers, and Harris Blitzer Sports & Entertainment, which owns the Sixers, announced in January that they had entered a binding 50-50 agreement to construct the new venue. That followed the Sixers’ controversial multiyear pursuit to build their own arena on East Market Street in Center City.

Todd Glickman, Comcast Spectacor’s chief revenue and business officer, declined to share financial terms of the deal. But because of the Sixers’ and Flyers’ impending move, at least the length of the agreement is unique compared to typical recent naming rights deals for sports venues, which can span decades and cost tens (or hundreds) of millions of dollars.

Lincoln Financial Field, the home of the Eagles, has a 14-year, $169 million naming rights deal that runs through 2032, according to a database compiled by Sports Business Journal. Citizens Bank Park, the home of the Phillies, is on a 25-year, $95 million deal that runs through 2032. The largest sports venue naming rights deal, according to the database, is Crypto.com Arena for the downtown Los Angeles venue formerly known as Staples Center. Its 20-year, $700 million deal runs through 2041.

Wells Fargo’s (then Wachovia’s) deal with South Philly’s arena, by comparison, was originally for 29 years and $40.6 million, according to Sports Business Journal — and was originally documented on a typewriter with whiteout marks, Glickman said Tuesday. The name changed from the Wachovia Center to the Wells Fargo Center in 2010, when Wachovia merged with Wells Fargo. News broke last July that the banking giant would not renew its agreement, calling it a “business decision” in a statement because the company “regularly reviews and adjusts our overall sponsorship strategy.”

Comcast Spectacor and Xfinity Mobile are both under the greater Comcast corporate umbrella, which is headquartered in Philly. Yet Matt Lederer, Xfinity Mobile’s vice president of brand partnerships and activations, said that the two sides negotiated the deal “the same way we would negotiate with any team or property out there.” Glickman added that Comcast Spectacor considered national, regional and local brands during a “rigorous” process, and sought one that understood Philly’s passionate fan base and the direction of the sports complex.

“Technology, innovation and community giveback [were] all super important things to us, as you’re headed into the next iteration of the sports complex and really what it’s going to be,” Glickman said. “The partner that came in had to have that, and it was important to both groups that we were aligned that way.”

Added Lederer: “If there’s going to be a company and a brand that’s involved in ensuring the experience that happens down there, it should be Comcast.”

Lederer also described Xfinity Mobile as a “young wireless brand” compared to more established providers, saying he hopes having the name on the arena can build recognition in the Philly area and nationally. He is also looking forward to a more active partnership with the Sixers.

That should solve the awkwardness that, for the better part of a decade, the Sixers refused to publicly use the full name of the Wells Fargo Center. Officials referred to it as simply “The Center” because that bank was not an official sponsor of the organization.

“We were shoulder-to-shoulder in this conversation around the naming rights and things that were important to both of us,” Glickman said of the Sixers. “I think everybody really feels good about what this is and what the future looks like.”

The new name will also come with “cutting-edge WiFi capabilities” for Xfinity customers inside the building, according to a news release. Lederer added that the company is also exploring ways to expand those signal capabilities out to the sports complex’s vast parking lots, where fans tailgate before events year-round.

“We understand that, as soon as you enter that parking lot and that area, you’re at the venue,” he said. “And we want your experience to be what it deserves to be.”