Philadelphia has called the Flyers its home team since Ed Snider first sought out the opportunity to bring a hockey team to the city in 1964.
It wasn't the first time the city hosted hockey, though the first didn't last long. In 1930-31, a struggling Pittsburgh Pirates team relocated and became the Philadelphia Quakers. In their only season in the city, they hold the record for the fewest games won by an NHL franchise, coming in at a dismal 4-36-4.
The organization suspended operations after that season and was cancelled by the league in 1936. 10 years later, there was an attempt to bring a team to Philadelphia by Len Peto, a Philadelphia and Montreal businessman. The plan was to build a rink that would seat 20,000 fans, in which the old Montreal Maroons franchise would move to Philadelphia. Peto's group was unable to raise the funding, thus ending that dream.
It took nearly 20 years until Snider was at a Boston Bruins game and began making plans for a new arena upon learning of the league's interest in more teams. And in 1966, the Philadelphia Flyers were born, and the Spectrum came to be. The building would last until a new arena was built across the street in 1996.
The Spectrum would remain open and played host to the Philadelphia Phantoms, the Flyers' minor league team, in two different stints: 1996-2006 and 2005-09. The Philadelphia KiXX, a professional soccer team, played in the building from 1996-2009. It also hosted the Philadelphia Soul for various games between 2004-08.
It would not be demolished until 2011, though it formally closed in 2009.
The arena has gone through numerous name changes since then. With Xfinity Mobile Arena becoming the next starting in September, the Flyers have called their home by six names since their inception.
CoreStates Center to Wells Fargo Center
The building became the CoreStates Center after CoreStates Financial Corporation agreed to pay $40 million over 21 years for the naming rights. That would last until the rights were taken by First Union Bank due to a merger in 1998. At the time, that was dubbed the largest bank merger that had ever taken place. It was listed at $17 billion. The arena was affectionately called the "F.U. Center" by fans, nearly forcing a name change.
Following another merger, the arena became the Wachovia Spectrum, later Wachovia Center, in 2003. The merger between First Union and Wachovia took place in 2001. It took two years to complete the entire process of changing systems, along with the new company name and logo.
Wells Fargo would later acquire Wachovia and the name would become the Wells Fargo Center in 2010.
The Flyers are not the only team to call the arena home. The Philadelphia 76ers came to the Spectrum starting in the 1967-68 season and have been there ever since.
With the contract up at the end of this past season, Wells Fargo announced that they would not be renewing the deal, thus leaving the Flyers with the need for a new arena name. That announcement came on Wednesday morning and will be valid through the 2030-31 season.
A new arena is expected to be open by 2031 as both the owners of the Flyers and Sixers, along with the city of Philadelphia, announced a deal in January to replace it. So by then, there may be a new name in place, and the Flyers will add a seventh arena name to their history.