The Wells Fargo Center is now the Xfinity Mobile Arena

The Wells Fargo Center is officially being renamed Xfinity Mobile Arena, and look—I get it. People are gonna hate the purple. Purple on gray? Kinda blah during the day, but the night renderings Spectacor sent out were honestly, not bad.

The Wells Fargo Center is Now “Xfinity Mobile Arena”

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No doubt the early reactions to the name Xfinity Mobile Arena, along with the colors, will be loud, angry, and full of hot takes about how Philly “doesn’t do purple.”

Fine. Whatever. If you really think about it, this isn’t Paris Fashion Week.

You’re not going to South Philly for the beautiful architecture and color pallets found at the Sports Complex. You’re going to watch the Flyers play mediocre hockey, the continued downward spiral of the 76ers, and the irrelevant Wings play indoor lacrosse while no one watches.

That being said, who gives a shit?

Let’s not pretend like Philly sports venues have ever had cool names.

Lincoln Financial Field – a bank
Citizens Bank Park – another bank
CoreStates Center, First Union Center, Wachovia Center, Wells Fargo Center – banks on banks on banks

Even Subaru Park is the Union’s third name—and they had two energy companies before it. So now we get Xfinity Mobile Arena. Not sexy by any means, but also not the worst.

Follow the Money

Here’s the part that’s murky. Comcast owns Xfinity Mobile. Comcast also owns Spectacor.

So…is Comcast giving Comcast money to name its own building?

It sounds circular, and it kind of is? Honestly, I’m not really sure but here’s what we do know. Spectacor, Xfinity Mobile, and HBSE all operate as separate business verticals. Think of it as different branches of the same tree funding each other’s pet projects while also pushing a relatively new brand in Xfinity Mobile to millions of eyeballs.

Sounds like a traditional naming rights deal. The Sixers are tenants and don’t own the building meaning they didn’t make money off the Wells Fargo naming rights. They will however, benefit financially from this new agreement.

Win-win. Sort of.

Again, I really don’t care about the name of any arena in Philadelphia, even more so when we’re talking about the place where the Sixers and Flyers play.

The Xfinity Mobile Arena (hate typing it) itself just got a $400 million overhaul. Personally, I find it to be one of the best places in the country to watch a game but only if you like punishing yourself to the tune of two professional sports teams that haven’t won anything in nearly three decades.