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Comcast-Spectacor units rebranded Spectra

Editor’s note: This story is revised from the print edition.

Comcast-Spectacor, the multibillion-dollar company whose subsidiaries run arenas and stadiums, sell tickets and feed sports fans across North America, is rebranding all three businesses under one name — Spectra.

Starting June 2, facility manager Global Spectrum, concessionaire Ovations Food Services and ticketing provider Paciolan will officially be renamed Spectra Venue Management, Spectra Food Services and Hospitality, and Spectra Ticketing and Fan Engagement, respectively.

Global Spectrum, which oversees facilities including the home of the Philadelphia Flyers, will be renamed Spectra Venue Management.
Photo by: GETTY IMAGES
For Comcast-Spectacor, the strategy behind the rebrand is to consolidate all divisions under one name and to continue expanding business by offering a bundle of services similar to Comcast Corp.’s business model for cable television, Internet and Wi-Fi.

“We went through it once before with Xfinity,” Comcast-Spectacor President Dave Scott said. “I grew up on the residential side of that business and we were Comcast Cable forever, and as we grew, we rebranded the company.”

Scott spent 35 years at Comcast Cable before taking over Comcast-Spectacor in December 2013. Since that time, he’s brought the same business principles from his old employer to a firm he’s molding into “One Comcast-Spectacor,” with all services named for a single entity.

Three initiatives really drove the name change, Scott said, including how to best go to market to win new business and upgrade existing accounts, and customer service. Standardization of internal operations with one accounting platform was another driver.

There are no changes in senior management. John Page, Ken Young and Dave Butler remain intact as presidents of venue management, food service and ticketing, respectively. The sponsorship services provided by the former Front Row Marketing, the sales division recently eliminated by Comcast-Spectacor, will be split between Spectra Venue Management and, on the college side, Spectra Ticketing and Fan Engagement. All told, the rebrand will cost several million dollars and could take up to two years to complete across all lines of business, Scott said.

As part of the rebrand, Comcast-Spectacor has teamed with Cisco Sports and Entertainment to launch a technology division with a focus on developing mobile applications for major league and college teams, Scott said.

Spectra Digital Services, the new technology group, is headed by executive vice president Mike Sheehey, formerly of NBC Sports. His division has 40 software engineers working on project development, starting with the Philadelphia Flyers’ new mobile app, which will make its debut this summer. Startup costs for the tech piece, already up and running, runs in the high six figures, Scott said. It falls in line with the core business of parent company Comcast, and Spectra Ticketing and Fan Engagement plans to leverage the relationships it has through Paciolan’s 115 deals with NCAA Division I schools for ticketing, fundraising and marketing services.

“We think with our footprint in the college space with Paciolan that it will be a huge opportunity,” Scott said.

Sheehey’s group has had initial talks with some MLS and NHL teams, including the Arizona Coyotes at Gila River Arena, a facility operated by Global Spectrum. No deals have been signed, Scott said.

Its competitors for developing mobile applications include MLB Advanced Media, YinzCam, AEG’s Carbonhouse, Sporting Innovations and VenueNext. The last two firms have ties to Sporting Kansas City and the San Francisco 49ers, respectively.

Cisco, a leading provider of wireless infrastructure and a big client of Comcast in the cable world, will work closely with Spectra Digital Services to help venues upgrade their infrastructure to accommodate Spectra’s mobile applications. Cisco is not an investor in Spectra.

“We’re designing this around a five-year business model so the client is not burdened with upfront costs,” Scott said. “We will stay involved with these accounts like we do with facility management and food.”

SCOTT
The changes affect substantial brands. Comcast-Spectacor, founded in 1974 by Flyers owner Ed Snider, formed Global Spectrum and Ovations in 2000. It broke into ticketing in 2003, bought a piece of Paciolan that year and gained full ownership in 2010. Paciolan was founded in 1980.

Over the past year, Scott looked at how much the leaders of Global Spectrum, Ovations and Paciolan collaborated to drive business, and he felt they could develop a more unified approach to competing for arena management, food service, ticketing and now digital services deals.

“We were working together really well but maybe not as formally as what I would like to see,” Scott said. “I got everybody together and said, ‘Let’s think about a way to come up with one brand that puts an umbrella over all of our products and services.’”

Spectra, the new name, is a spinoff of the old Spectrum, the arena in Philadelphia where Flyers owner Snider first laid the groundwork for the company in 1967, and a building where many facility managers got their start in sports business.

The rebranding ties nicely into two milestones Comcast-Spectacor celebrates next year: the 50th season of the Flyers and the 20th year of operation at Wells Fargo Center, the arena that replaced the Spectrum as the Flyers’ home in 1996.

EverBank Field is among the food service and hospitality clients.
Photo by: GETTY IMAGES
“What all of us felt was important was to get back to our roots,” Scott said. “We talked a lot about the Spectrum … the idea of ‘under one roof.’ We did well at that moment in time. Now we’re a local company with a national footprint. The new name is appropriate for what we’re doing today.”

Comcast-Spectacor’s agency, Philadelphia-based 160over90, led the rebranding effort. The process took about a year to complete with input from more than 300 employees from all corners of the company, said Darryl Cilli, 160over90’s principal and chief creative officer.

“Spectra is the ‘sponge’ for all these services,” Cilli said. “In an industry filled with acronyms, they wanted to stand out.”

Whether the rebrand gives Spectra an edge over competitors remains to be seen. The bundling strategy is not new for Comcast-Spectacor. Under former President Peter Luukko, who left the firm in late 2013, the company pitched multiple lines of business to venues where he thought it made sense.

“In the peculiar nature of our business, especially when you’re dealing with a professional tenant and the entities that oversee arenas, the team and the authority are not necessarily willing to jump into one-stop shopping,” said Matt Brown, managing director of the Greensboro (N.C.) Coliseum Complex and an Ovations client. “They may have their own preferences for food and ticketing.”

Under Scott’s leadership, about 30 percent of Comcast-Spectacor clients now have deals with more than one of its vendors at their buildings.

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