When former Comcast-Spectacor President & COO PETER LUUKO stepped down in December, recently retired Comcast Cable Exec VP & CFO DAVID SCOTT was brought in to “fill the slot,” and he discussed his “plans for growing the business” in a Q&A with John George of the PHILADELPHIA BUSINESS JOURNAL. Below are excerpts from the interview:
Q: How did you get the job?
Scott: I was retired, but still working on some consulting projects. I got a call from [Comcast Chair & CEO BRIAN ROBERTS] and ultimately came up and met with [Comcast-Spectacor Chair ED SNIDER]. This all came together pretty quickly.
Q: Why end such a brief retirement?
Scott: It was the opportunity to do something completely different. I’d been in cable television 25, 30 years. I was in newspaper publishing before that. … I decided to be back running a company in an all new business -- sports and entertainment -- sounded exciting, and too good to pass up.
Q: So when people say Comcast people are taking over Comcast-Spectacor ...
Scott: I’m probably overly sensitive to that. People use the phrase ‘Comcastizing Comcast-Spectacor,’ I want to make sure I’m not perceived as doing that. This partnership with Ed and Brian Roberts has being going on for 18 years and it’s working well.
Q: Are you planning any changes at the Wells Fargo Center?
Scott: We’re looking at improving the digital signage and at the suites. We’re doing pretty well with our suites, but Philadelphia doesn’t have the corporate base it once had. We are seeing companies pooling together to share suites, so maybe we don’t need as many long term. We’re looking at is there way we can open some of them up and create some bigger suites for fans where they are not really suites, but more areas for fans to gather that have some food service. We are at the early stages of this. We have just started taking with some consultants (PHILADELPHIA BUSINESS JOURNAL, 5/30 issue).
