Ed Snider

Ed Snider

Ed Snider is one of the true giants of the sports and entertainment industry. His career has been guided by the principle that one must be constantly moving forward in order to succeed, and it’s that philosophy that marks his leadership of Comcast-Spectacor today.

Ed first emerged as a leader in Philadelphia’s sports business in 1966 when he founded the Philadelphia Flyers. He was the driving force behind the building of the Spectrum, and assumed control of the building in 1971. in 1974, Ed created Spectacor as a management company to oversee the Flyers and Spectrum. Over the next 20 years, Spectacor grew to be a national force in sports and entertainment. Under Ed’s guidance, Sppectacor started or acquired nearly a dozen businesses over the 20-year period 1974-1994. Many of these enterprises were sold at a time when each was the industry leader in it field.

Perhaps nothing demonstrates Ed’s perseverance and desire to succeed like the development of the Wachovia Center, a $210 million state-of-the-art arena completed in 1996. In the summer of 2000, the facility gained national prominence as the host facility for the Republican National Convention. Today the Wachovia Center and the Wachovia Spectrum comprise the most active sports and entertainment complex in the world.

In 1996, Ed merged Spectacor into Comcast Corporation, creating Comcast-Spectacor. The new venture initially consisted of the Philadelphia Flyers, Philadelphia 76’ers, Wachovia Center, Wachovia Spectrum and Philadelphia Phantoms. Comcast-Spectacor then joined with the Philadelphia Phillies to form Comcast SportsNet, one of the highest rated regional sports networks in the country.

In the past four years, Comcast-Spectacor has developed the Flyers Skate Zone, a series of regional ice skating rinks; Global Spectrum, an international facilities management company; Ovations Food Services, a national concessions company and three minor league baseball teams, all of which are affiliates of the Baltimore Orioles. These entities all represent components of Ed’s vision: take what you do well and growl it.

Ed’s successes have been recognized by his peers. He was elected to the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1988 and serves on the NHL’s Executive Committee. He is a recipient of the Lester Patrick Award for outstanding service to hockey in the United States and has been elected to the Pennsylvania Sports Hall of Fame and the Flyers Hall of Fame.

In February of 2001, Ed received Temple University’s First Annual Sports Leadership Award presented by The Fox School of Business and Management. In the May 1999, he was selected by Philadelphia Daily News readers as Philly’s Greatest mover and shaker of the millennium in mail-in and online balloting. In December 1999, he received the Anti-Defamation League’s prestigious Americanism Award. In 1985, Ed received an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree from MCP Hahnemann University and May of 1999, he received the same from Thomas Jefferson Hospital. He is also a Benefactor and Advisory Board Member of the Sol C. Snider Entrepreneurial Center of the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. Other Board memberships include Board of Overseers of the Wharton School, the Isadore Brodsky Institute for Cancer and Blood Diseases at MCP Hahnemann University, Institute for Objectivist Studies and the Simon Wiesenthal Center.

Ed and his, Christine, reside in suburban Philadelphia. His children include daughters Lindy, Tina and Sarena and sons Craig, Jay and Samuel as well as 13 grandchildren.

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