It’s been fifteen years since the Philadelphia Flyers and 76ers moved across the parking lot from the historic Spectrum to the CoreStates Center. The building has undergone various name changes in its fifteen years of operation; going from the CoreStates Center, to First Union Center, to Wachovia Center, to the current Wells Fargo Center. In fact, the Wells Fargo Center stood next to the Spectrum up until November of 2010 when the older building was finally torn down.
The building has certainly seen its fair share of hockey events since opening its doors. The Flyers made it to the Stanley Cup Final in the first year at their new home; and again at the end of the 2009-10 season. Philadelphia has made it to three other Conference Finals appearances in the last fifteen years—in fact, they’ve made the playoffs every year except for the injury-plagued 2006-07 season. Aside from NHL hockey, the Wells Fargo Center hosted three games in 1996 for the World Cup of Hockey and the Calder Cup Finals in 2005 as the Philadelphia Phantoms reigned supreme in the AHL. In 2014, the NCAA’s Frozen Four will make its way to the Wells Fargo Center as well.
On the anniversary, the Philadelphia Flyers official site released a ton unusual statistics concerning the Wells Fargo Center:Here are some of the more unseen numbers during the first 15 years at the Wells Fargo Center.
6,645,300: Soft Pretzels Consumed
2,591,728: Hot Dogs Devoured
639,634: Philadelphia cheesesteaks eaten
679,537: Bags of popcorn purchased
461,511: Gallons of Pepsi consumed
240,000: Gallons of water to create the ice surface once-a-year prior to start of hockey season
60,000: Light bulbs replaced throughout the entire arena
48,500: Miles of concourse swept my housekeeping to keep the building beautiful
21,424: Largest single-event attendance (Backstreet Boys, September 29, 1999)
20,327: Largest One-Day Attendance for a Flyers Game (vs. Chicago Blackhawks, June 9, 2010)
4,000: Hours of operation on the ice by the Wells Fargo Center Zamboni driver
18: The most sellouts by one artist or act: Billy Joel
10,165,780: Sixers Attendance
11,182,589 (99.7 percent of capacity): Flyers Attendance in Regular Season Games
307-173-50-44 (708 Points): Flyers Record in Regular Season Home Games
1,547,524 (101.6 percent of capacity): Flyers Attendance in Playoff Games
46-32: Flyers Record in Playoff Home Games
1,755: Goals Scored by Flyers Players
There’s no doubt the Flyers have been the most successful major sports franchise since Wells Fargo Center opened fifteen years ago. In five of those fifteen years, they made it all the way to the Conference Finals (or beyond). Going further, they’ve won at least one series in seven playoff appearances and have made the playoffs 13 times. Only the disastrous 2006-07 season and the lockout of 2004-05 caused them to miss the playoffs. Not too bad.
Here’s an idea of the energy the building has already seen in its first few years in the NHL: