The Flyers, confounding the expectations of most hockey observers, stormed into the Stanley Cup finals before finally losing steam against the defending champion Edmonton Oilers. In addition to their home playoff games, the Flyers kept the 17,000-seat Spectrum packed for most of their 40 home games, at tickets that began at $8.50 a seat.

The Sixers did not draw as well during the regular season. But by reaching the National Basketball Association's Eastern Conference Finals, where they lost to archrival Boston, they, nonetheless, went deep enough into the playoffs to generate substantial revenues.

"In terms of profits, the teams are always a very fluid situation," Shabel said. "This was a good year for us. But there have been bad years - for example, when the Rangers knocked off the Flyers in the first round" in 1983.

No matter how the teams fare, however, the Spectrum is virtually assured of attracting 50 to 60 major concerts a year - with first-rate draws such as Madonna and Bruce Springsteen - as well as the U.S. Indoor Tennis Tournament, the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus and a host of other special events. In many cases, the Spectrum also helps promote those events.

Richard Rumer, vice president of finance and administration for the Spectrum, said the arena's share of such performances can vary widely. But as a general rule, the Spectrum gets its choice of a flat $10,000 fee or 20 percent of net revenues, he said.

Some users of the Spectrum have complained about its rates, but Rumer said the Spectrum's prices were in line with comparable arenas across the country. Yet observers agree that the Spectrum's profit margins are probably considerably higher than other arenas' because of the low monthly fees dictated by the 50-year lease with the city.

And in the meantime, revenues continue to rise at the other Spectacor companies. Shabel said that SpectaGuard, already generates $7 million in annual revenues and lists such clients as the University of Pennsylvania, the Eagles and McNeil Consumer Products Co., the Fort Washington maker of Tylenol products. The company is now aggressively marketing its services.

Spectacor Management, Shabel continued, has completed a study that calls for a $14 million Civic Center complex in Reading. And Showcase Stores is planning to triple its number of stores by the end of 1986.

But despite Spectacor's successes, Shabel says the company is not as profitable as many observers believe.

One of those observers, Thacher Longstreth, a city councilman and former president of the Greater Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce, estimates Snider may have amassed a personal fortune of between $50 million and $70 million from his South Philadelphia empire.

"Anything he decides to get into seems to immediately become well-run and very profitable," Longstreth observed.

"Ed Snider's a creative genius," counters Shabel. "But all this talk about us being so profitable is really exaggerated. For one thing, as a hockey team we don't get the big TV-revenue packages that some sports get. We certainly don't have a cash cow here."

The suspicion to the contrary remains, though. Especially at some levels of city government.

Most informed officials concede that Snider's 50-year lease terms are reasonable when put into perspective. That is, they agree that he deserved financial incentives in return for taking responsibility for a bankrupt and ridiculed property. But at the same time, those terms - agreed to by Mayor James H.J. Tate - appear to stick in the craw of many officials when measured against current standards.

A look at the lease shows that Snider is obligated to pay the city $15,000 a year in rent, or $1,250 a month. Moreover, he must pay the city a percentage of the annual revenues generated by the adjacent city parking lot. At present, that portion is 25 percent, and it amounted to about $252,500 last year, city records show.

But Snider pays no real estate taxes on the Spectrum. In 1971, U.S. District Judge A. Leon Higginbotham granted the Spectrum an exemption from property taxes on the ground that it was public property used for public purposes.

According to the city Board of Revision of Taxes, the assessed valuation of the Spectrum is $5.8 million. Its annual property tax bill would be slightly more than $431,000.

Phillies president Giles, for one, believes that those enviable lease terms were the engines of Snider's early success. Giles said the Phillies gain no parking revenues from city lots and pay 18 percent of their ticket revenues to the city.

"The lease made a big difference because he [Snider] could show a greater net profit," Giles said. ...