September 11, 2023
Comcast Spectacor/for PhillyVoice
A rendering of the exterior upgrades coming to the Wells Fargo Center.
The final stage of the Wells Fargo Center's multi-year, and multi-million dollar, renovation plan will bring a major overhaul to the outside of the building, highlighted by three massive LED video boards on the north and south ends and a dynamic, controllable lighting system that can change the feel of the arena on any given night.
Expected to be completed around late 2023/early 2024, here's the rundown of what Comcast Spectacor has on deck:
• The three LED boards – designed by the scoreboard experts over at ANC – will each be just shy of 35 feet in height and wrapped around the northeast and northwest corners of the building along with the south end that faces out toward I-95, giving the outside of the arena more than 10,500 square feet of digital screening space.
• Customizable strut lighting – handled by Jones Sign, a firm that specializes in some creative stadium lighting – will be added to all four corners of the arena and allow it to shift color or even play one-minute video loops that can match any given event (so think the building being fully lit up orange for the Flyers, blue for the Sixers, green and red for the Eagles and Phillies across the street, and so on). The existing LED lighting system placed underneath the edges of the roof that was already helping the arena better match its schedule based on color will also be fully replaced to run in sync with the new one and make it all pop that much more.
• More efficient than aesthetic, new entry canopies will be added to the Wells Fargo Center's Broad Street, 11th Street, and Premium entrances. They'll all be heated, programmed with audio so you can hear something like the radio play-by-play on the way in, and integrate the Evolv Technology touchless security screening that the Eagles and Phillies have already been making use of.
• Bigger for those driving in: The Broad Street gates leading into the parking lots will be expanded out from four gates to six, with two kiosks per lane, which will hopefully make traffic and the time it takes to get in a whole lot more manageable. This part is expected to be done at some point this fall.
As for what it's all going to look like, you can see it in the rendering above for a Flyers game, but here's a visual for the Sixers as well:
Comcast Spectacor has been at renovating the Wells Fargo Center for the past seven years, pouring $400 million of privately funded money into it, and completely transforming the building in the process.
From a massive new scoreboard (that shoots fire) to upgraded seats and concourses and the addition of the standing-room City Terrace up top, the arena has come a long way from when it first opened back in 1996.
And that includes this past year too, when the club level and all the teams' locker rooms and everything surrounding them down below got their major upgrades.
Now it's on to the final touches.
“This final stage of our transformation will cap off a seven-year project that has turned this arena into a brand-new venue,” Wells Fargo Center president Phil Laws said via a press release. “These exterior upgrades feature the latest modern technology to bring new, exciting elements to Philly’s home for sports and entertainment. After transforming nearly every inch of the arena, inside and out, this is another way to ensure we provide a first-class experience for our guests the moment they step into the Sports Complex.”
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