It's official: The former CoreStates-F.U.-Wachovia Center will be the Wells Fargo Center by the time the Flyers start their fall season, Comcast Spectacor spokesman Ike Richman reports here. Philly's indoor teams will play in an arena named for an old West Coast stage coach, transport and banking company that has no prior history here.
The former CoreStates Bank agreed to pay $40 million for naming rights from 1996-2025. Wells Fargo of San Francisco is CoreStates' successor as the region's dominant bank and has inherited the arena naming-rights contract after purchasing failing Wachovia Corp. of Charlotte, NC (which had absorbed Wachovia) at the end of 2008. Wells Fargo also plans to replace the Wachovia name at thousands of East Coast bank branches.
More from Comcast-Spectacor President Peter Luukko: Name change takes effect "immediately." Comcast-Spectacor "is honoring" the 1996 contract with the former CoreStates "that (the bank's) successor shall keep the naming rights" as the name changes. Adds Richman: "Workers will begin removing the Wachovia Center sign" today. Sign replacement "is expected to be completed by Tuesday, September 14," in time for scheduled shows by the singer Lady Gaga.