Thank Flyers' Snider for Sixers' home in Spectrum

Fifth in a series of 25

THE SETUP: The 76ers made the move into Spectrum in 1967. There was no fanfare, no huge anticipation, no superlatives describing the first structure strictly built to house a professional sports franchise in Philadelphia since 1909. But it was a move that helped make the Spectrum the greatest showplace in America. Without the Sixers' commitment to the arena, there was an excellent chance the arena and the Philadelphia Flyers would never have existed.

It was 1966, the 76ers were in the middle of a championship season and were quite content playing in the cozy confines of Convention Hall.

Moving into a new arena was the last thing on 76ers owner Irv Kosloff's mind. Kosloff grew up in Convention Hall and loved the place. Relocating wasn't even a thought. His team, led by Wilt Chamberlain and coached by Alex Hannum, was in the middle of making history. The franchise couldn't be in better shape.

But Ed Snider, one of the young minority owners of the Philadelphia Eagles, had become a fan of the National Hockey League and had heard that the league was about to expand. Keeping it to himself, so that no one else in the city would bid against him, Snider secured the rights to an expansion team. A big part of Snider's presentation to the NHL was that the new team would play in a new arena, one that he would get built.

But Snider could not even begin to think of building an arena until he had secured a partner, another team that would fill seats at least 30 to 35 times a year. And he had a plum in his own backyard, a 76ers team that would eventually be called the greatest team in the history of the NBA.

Former Philadelphia Warriors owner Eddie Gottlieb, one of the all-time great movers and shakers in the history of the NBA, knew Snider needed help.

"Eddie Gottlieb often told me in conversation that before that building can make money," recalled super statman Harvey Pollack, who served as a publicist under Gottlieb with the Warriors, "they have to have 150 dates in which the building is used during the course of a year."

That Gottlieb might have had been working behind the scenes to make the new venue work and to do what was best for the NBA franchise does not surprise David Richman, whose father, Ike, along with Kosloff, was co-owner of the Sixers until he died of a heart attack at a Sixers-Celtics game in 1965.

"I don't know if this is subject to public knowledge," Richman said during a recent phone interview, "but I think Eddie Gottlieb had something to do with it. It makes sense, because he was perceptive enough to come up with that concept [of the 150 dates].

"After my father died, [Gottlieb] didn't care too much for Kosloff. But Gottlieb was concerned with the success of professional basketball in Philadelphia. So maybe he overlooked his animosity toward Kosloff to make it work."

After the Sixers won the championship, Pollack said, "the 76ers were in a strong position to negotiate about coming [to the Spectrum]. Kosloff swung a sweetheart of a deal every year it was in effect.

"That's how they got [Kosloff] to come here, or else there wouldn't have been the Flyers. I don't think they would have gone ahead and built the building if it was only the Flyers."

So, the deal was struck, and the Sixers made the big move into the state-of-the-art Spectrum.

Soon, the Ice Follies, boxing, concerts, the circus and rodeos were booked, and, in a few years, the Spectrum was known as America's Showplace, hosting more events than any other arena in the country.

All because Mr. Snider had a vision and needed a partner.