Wells Fargo Center, home of the NBA’s Philadelphia 76ers and the NHL’s Philadelphia Flyers, has unveiled a range of new event-level upgrades at the arena ahead of the new basketball and ice hockey seasons.
The upgrades include state-of-the-art locker rooms and player and performer facilities, including several shared facilities for the Flyers and Sixers.
The new Flyers locker room features an entryway that honours the late founder of the team, Ed Snider, and celebrates the franchise’s two Stanley Cups. The main room has been designed in an oval-shaped layout and features individualised lockers, a 400-pound ceiling-mounted illuminated Flyers logo, and a 110-inch multi-purpose screen.
Upgrades to lighting in the new space include the transition to throw lighting in order to enhance the architectural structure and interior design features of the room. Each stall contains an individual ventilation system to circulate air more efficiently and to help dry wet equipment or items.
The suite of spaces for the coaches has been fitted with 10 times more screen real estate, with over 40 total screens for the Flyers’ video personnel to work in real time during play and game breaks. A new video distribution matrix will be integrated with the team’s Catapult Thunder Video and NHL Hawkeye Replay system to allow the video team staff to send game video in real time to any display in the locker room.
Other upgrades at Wells Fargo Center include a new players’ lounge, state-of-the-art medical facilities, and a new athletic training room that has tripled in size. Shared spaces for the Flyers and 76ers include a coach and executive lounge, a family lounge with a designated nursing space, and a weight training room designed by both teams’ training staffs.
Wells Fargo Center president Phil Laws said: “Every inch of this arena has been torn down and rebuilt into something so impressive, and the facilities now available to players and performers are truly world-class.
“As we begin to finish the transformation of this entire arena, we can certainly say that we’ve achieved our goals to create the best fan experience in sports and build facilities that will help our players and performers succeed on the ice, on the court, or on stage.”
Wells Fargo Center owner Comcast Spectacor has invested $16m (£13m/€15m) into the event level project, which also includes construction of the Shift4 Club, a courtside/ice-side space. The event level overhaul is one of the final phases of the arena’s $400m-plus transformation, with this phase representing a $30m investment.
Upgrades to the exterior of Wells Fargo Center are currently underway, with the wide-ranging project designed to ensure the arena’s long-term status as a world-class venue.
The 76ers are planning on moving away from Wells Fargo Center into a new $1.3bn arena. The team unveiled plans for the arena in July last year, and it is hoped the project will be completed in time for the 2031-32 NBA season.
In July, the company behind the proposed delivery of the 76 Place project said it will convey currently private land to the City of Philadelphia as part of fresh revelations about the plans.
