The Spectrum (later known as CoreStates Spectrum, First Union Spectrum and Wachovia Spectrum) was an indoor arena in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The arena opened in September 1967 as part of what is now known as the South Philadelphia Sports Complex. After several expansions of its seating capacity, it accommodated 18,168 for basketball and 17,380 for ice hockey, arena football, indoor soccer, and box lacrosse. It was the home arena for the Philadelphia Flyers and the Philadelphia 76ers from 1967 to 1996 before both moved to the CoreStates Center (known as Spectrum II during planning and construction, and currently named Xfinity Mobile Arena). The Spectrum continued to be used for concerts and as the home for other sports teams including a new AHL affiliate for the Flyers, the Philadelphia Phantoms.
The final event at the Spectrum was a Pearl Jam concert on October 31, 2009. The arena was demolished between November 2010 and May 2011.
History Opened as the Spectrum in September 1967, Philadelphia's first modern indoor sports arena was built to be the home of the expansion Philadelphia Flyers of the NHL, and also to accommodate the existing Philadelphia 76ers of the NBA. The building was the second major sports facility built at the south end of Broad Street in an area previously known as East League Island Park and now referred to simply as the South Philadelphia Sports Complex.
Early years Ground was broken on the arena on June 1, 1966, by Jerry Wolman and then-Philadelphia Mayor James Tate as the home of the NHL's expansion Philadelphia Flyers. The first event at the arena was the Quaker City Jazz Festival on September 30, 1967, produced by Larry Magid.
The first sporting event at the arena was an October 17, 1967 boxing match featuring Joe Frazier vs. Tony Doyle. From 1967 through 1972, fifteen fight cards were held at the Spectrum. The NBA's 76ers also moved there from Convention Hall as a second major league sports tenant. Lou Scheinfeld, former President of the Spectrum, explained that the name "Spectrum" was selected to evoke the broad range of events to be held there: "The 'SP' for 'sports' and 'South Philadelphia', 'E' for 'entertainment', 'C' for 'circuses', 'T' for 'theatricals', 'R' for 'recreation', and 'UM' as 'um, what a nice building!'" Scheinfeld also said that a seat in the city's first superbox initially cost $1,000 a year: "For every Flyers game, Sixers game, circus, you name it, you got 250 events for $1,000."October 19, 2009, Talk Philly, CBS3. The Flyers won their first ever home game in this arena by defeating the Pittsburgh Penguins, 1–0. Bill Sutherland scored the arena's first goal.
On March 1, 1968, wind blew part of the covering off the Spectrum's roof during a performance of the Ice Capades, forcing the building to close for a month while Mayor Tate fought with then-Philadelphia County District Attorney Arlen Specter over responsibility for the construction of the roof, and the damage was repaired. The 76ers moved their home games to Convention Hall and to the Palestra, but neither of those arenas had ice rinks at the time, and there were no other NHL-quality sites in the Philadelphia area. The Flyers hurriedly moved their next home game against the Oakland Seals to Madison Square Garden in New York followed by a meeting with the Boston Bruins played at Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto before establishing a base at Le Colisée in Quebec City, home of their top minor league team, the AHL Quebec Aces, for the remainder of their regular season, marking the first NHL games in Quebec City in over four decades, and years before the Quebec Nordiques joined the NHL. The roof was repaired in time to permit the Flyers to return to the Spectrum to open their first Stanley Cup playoffs against the St. Louis Blues on April 4, 1968; the opening faceoff came just as the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. was transpiring in Memphis, Tennessee. Similarly, in 1993, the Flyers played a day game against the Los Angeles Kings during a blizzard. A piece of flying debris smashed out one of the concourse windows, cancelling the game just after the first period.
In the 1970s, the venue's location near Broad Street and the reputation for fisticuffs that the Flyers had developed led to the nickname "Broad Street Bullies".
In 1976, the local pay television service PRISM (so-named in part as you could see "the spectrum" via a prism) was launched by Spectacor, carrying home games of the Flyers and 76ers (as well as the Phillies); PRISM's technical and studio operations were based out of the event level of the Spectrum (though PRISM's administrative offices were instead located in Bala Cynwyd). PRISM's successor, NBC Sports Philadelphia, is based out of the present-day Xfinity Mobile Arena in a similar arrangement.
A plaque inside The Spectrum stated that it held the world record for the fastest conversion from Hockey to Basketball.
The Spectrum, along with the Met Center and The Forum, was one of the first sports arenas to have a scoreboard with a messageboard. Furthermore, the messageboards on the Spectrum scoreboard were the first dot matrix screens in pro hockey or basketball, capable of photos, animation, and replays as well as messages. This was replaced in 1986 with ArenaVision, which consisted of six rear-projection videoscreens at the top and a four-sided American Sign and Indicator scoreboard at the bottom. Inside the videoscreens were General Electric projectors located away from each screen.
Seating capacity
+ BasketballYearsCapacity1967–1971 15,2441971–1972 15,3041972–1973 1973–1981 18,2761981–1982 18,3641982–1985 17,9211985–1987 17,9411987–2009 18,168
+ Ice HockeyYearsCapacity1967–1968 14,6461968–1969 14,5581969–1970 14,6061970–1971 14,6201971–1972 14,6261972–1973 16,6001973–1975 17,0071975–1981 17,0771981–1983 17,1471983–1985 17,1911985–1986 17,2111986–1987 17,2221987–1990 17,4231990–1991 17,3821991–2009 17,380
Flyers and 76ers' championships and All-Star Games hosted
The Flyers won their first Stanley Cup at the Spectrum on May 19, 1974, defeating the Boston Bruins, 1–0, in game six of the Stanley Cup Final in front of a then-capacity crowd of 17,007. At the height of the Cold War on January 11, 1976, the Flyers became the first NHL team to defeat (by 4–1) the vaunted hockey team of the Soviet Central Red Army (ЦСКА). Two games in the inaugural Canada Cup hockey tournament were also held at the Spectrum in September of that year, as the U.S. took on Czechoslovakia and the USSR.
Ten NHL or NBA playoff championship series were hosted at the Spectrum. The Flyers competed in the Stanley Cup Final in , , , , , and . The 76ers played in the NBA Finals in , , , and . The 1976 and 1992 NHL, and 1970 and 1976 NBA All-Star Games were also held here. The AHL Phantoms also won their first Calder Cup title on Spectrum ice before a sellout crowd of 17,380 on June 10, 1998, by defeating the Saint John Flames, 6–1.
The only visitors to win the Stanley Cup and NBA championship at the Spectrum were the Montreal Canadiens (1976) and the Los Angeles Lakers (1980) respectively.
The Spectrum is the only venue to host the NBA and NHL All-Star Games in the same season, doing so in 1976, when it also hosted that year's Final Four. It is also one of a handful of venues to host the Stanley Cup and NBA Finals at the same time, doing so in 1980 (all four major Philadelphia teams would reach the championship round of their respective sport in 1980).
College basketball tournaments The Spectrum was used for many basketball tournaments, including Big Five games, eight Atlantic 10 Conference tournaments (1977, 1983, 1997–2002), the 1975, 1980 and 1992 NCAA East Regional (site of the famous last-second shot by Christian Laettner of Duke to beat Kentucky), and the 1976 and 1981 Final Fours (both won by Bob Knight's Indiana Hoosiers). Smaller conferences preferred holding tournament games at this venue over the larger Center nearby.
Bull riding In 2003 and 2004, the PBR brought their Built Ford Tough Series tour to the Spectrum.
Notable concerts
Many concerts were staged at the Spectrum, often praised for its acoustic properties, beginning in the 1960s. In the 1970s, Electric Factory Concerts became the prominent concert promoter for the facility. Cream performed there during their farewell tour, supported by Lee Michaels. The First Quaker City Rock Festival was an early all-star show there, featuring Moby Grape, The Chambers Brothers, Vanilla Fudge, Big Brother & The Holding Company, and Buddy Guy among other acts. Duran Duran performed at the venue on March 3, 1984, during their Sing Blue Silver world tour. Depeche Mode performed at the venue six times between 1988 and 1998. Led Zeppelin performed on their second American tour on July 12, 1969, along with Buddy Guy, Al Kooper, Jethro Tull, and Johnny Winter. The Jimi Hendrix Experience performed on April 12, 1969, with Fat Mattress opening. The Doors performed a 103-minute show, a recording of which was released years later as Live in Philadelphia '70. The Grateful Dead played the Spectrum 53 times, by far the most of any musical act. Live albums recorded here include Dick's Picks Volume 36, Road Trips Full Show: Spectrum 11/5/79, Road Trips Full Show: Spectrum 11/6/79, Road Trips Volume 4 Number 4, Dave's Picks Volume 32, and Dave's Picks Volume 39. Bryan Adams performed during his Waking Up The World tour on May 15, 1994. Phish performed at the venue nine times between 1995 and 2003, most notably two shows on December 2–3, 1997, as part of their "Phish Destroys America" tour. Yes played the Spectrum 28 times between 1971 and 2004, including a matinee show in 1974 for their Tales from Topographic Oceans Tour, as well as two dates (August 3, 1989 and March 19, 1990) as "Anderson, Bruford, Wakeman and Howe". Yes keyboardist Rick Wakeman also performed solo shows at the Spectrum in 1974 and 1975. Elvis Presley played the Spectrum for five shows between 1971 and 1977, his final performance there was May 28, 1977, just months before his death. Bob Marley and The Wailers played at the venue on June 20, 1975, and June 5, 1978, in support of his Natty Dread and Kaya Tour respectively. Aerosmith played the venue 23 times between 1976 and 1994, including a few notorious performances in the late 1970s in which rowdy fans injured the band members with glass bottles and M-80s. Pink Floyd played the Spectrum in 1972, 1973, 1975 and 1977. They last played two shows there on June 28–29, 1977, during their Animals/In the Flesh Tour. On the second night (June 29, 1977), Floyd member Roger Waters fell ill and did most of the show after a painkiller injection. However, the painkiller wore off and was taken to the hospital and missed the final encore of "Us and Them" where second guitarist Snowy White had to fill in on bass guitar. Unbeknownst to the crowd, this was the first time that the rest of Pink Floyd (guitarist/vocalist David Gilmour, drummer Nick Mason and keyboard player Rick Wright) performed a song live without Waters (they would go on without Waters as of 1986). Waters' experience performing while ill at this venue would be documented on "Comfortably Numb". The Who performed at the Spectrum throughout the 1970s. The 1973 show was documented in a famous audio bootleg of their Quadrophenia performance. A CD has been released of John Entwistle's performance on March 15, 1975, when he opened for Humble Pie. 1978 saw the last tour of the original Black Sabbath lineup. Opening for them was Van Halen.