Snider honored by Sports Business Journal

Comcast-Spectacor Chairman Ed Snider was today named to the Class of 2012 of Champions: Pioneers & Innovators in Sports Business, an award from the Street & Smith’s Sports Business Journal recognizing the architects and builders of sports.

Snider, who will join Bill Battle, a licensing pioneer, Don Ohlmeyer, a TV visionary, Steve Sabol of NFL Films, Judy Sweet, a college sports executive, and Humpy Wheeler, a long-time motorsports promoter, will be honored during a special ceremony at the IMG World Congress of Sports in Laguna Nigel, CA, from Tuesday, March 20 through Wednesday, March 21.

Snider was selected for his achievements and body of work throughout his career.

Snider brought an entrepreneurial mindset to the sports business in Philadelphia. He merged as a leader in the market in 1967, when he founded the Philadelphia Flyers and brought the team to the city, where it began playing that fall. He was the driving force behind the construction of the Spectrum and assumed control of the building in 1971. He saw the opportunity for a larger sports management company and, in 1974, he created Spectacor into a national company serving the sports and entertainment marketplace. In 1996, Snider merged Spectacor with the Comcast Corp. to form Comcast-Spectacor. The new venture initially consisted of the Flyers, Philadelphia 76ers, Wells Fargo Center, The Spectrum and the Philadelphia Phantoms. Comcast-Spectacor then joined with the Philadelphia Phillies to form Comcast SportsNet. Most recently, Comcast-Spectacor developed Global Spectrum, an international facilities management company; Ovations Food Services, an international concessions company; and New Era Tickets.

Snider created the Ed Snider Youth Hockey Foundation in 2005 as a personal commitment to teach children important life lessons. The mission of the Ed Snider Youth Hockey Foundation is to build lives and unite communities.  It uses the sport of hockey to help educate young people to succeed in the game of life. Snider Hockey services are targeted for inner-city boys and girls who otherwise would not have the opportunity to learn to skate or to play ice hockey.

Snider recently contributed $6.5 million to match a grant from the Commonwealth’s Redevelopment Assistance Capital Program, resulting in a $13 million restoration project to preserve after-school, recreational, and supplemental educational activities for children, youth, and families at three Philadelphia ice skating rinks that were targeted for closure.