Ed Snider
Builder and owner of the Philadelphia Flyers.
Ed Snider (January 6, 1933 – April 11, 2016) was an American business executive. He chaired Comcast Spectacor, a Philadelphia sports and entertainment firm whose holdings included the NHL’s Philadelphia Flyers, Xfinity Mobile Arena, the regional sports network Comcast SportsNet, and the facilities management company Global Spectrum. Earlier in his career, he owned the NBA’s Philadelphia 76ers and, during the 1960s, ran the NFL’s Philadelphia Eagles for a few years.
Born to a Jewish family in the Washington, D.C., area, Snider was the son of a grocery-store chain owner. He earned a bachelor’s degree in accounting from the University of Maryland.
In the 1960s, Snider co-founded a record company, Edge Ltd., with his friend Jerry Lilienfield. The venture was moderately successful but eventually closed, leading Snider to join Jerry Wolman and his brother-in-law Earl Foreman in purchasing the Philadelphia Eagles in 1964. Snider obtained an option to buy a 7% stake in the team and served as vice president and treasurer, handling day-to-day operations. When the NHL announced expansion plans, Snider and Wolman proposed a new arena—the Spectrum—to house both a hockey team and the 76ers. On February 8, 1966, the NHL granted Philadelphia a conditional franchise, which became the Flyers and began play in 1967. In summer 1967, Snider and Wolman dissolved their partnership, swapping assets: Snider became majority owner of the Flyers, while Wolman took sole ownership of the Spectrum. When Wolman filed for bankruptcy on the Spectrum in 1971, Snider and Foreman took over the building and eventually paid all creditors in full. In 1974, Snider created Spectacor as a holding company for the Flyers and Spectrum executives. That same year, the Flyers became the first NHL expansion team to win the Stanley Cup, repeating as champions in 1975.
Snider went on to found or acquire several businesses, including the regional premium cable channel PRISM and the all-sports radio station WIP. After a lengthy dispute with 76ers owner Harold Katz, the city of Philadelphia, and Camden, New Jersey, he privately financed a new arena—later the CoreStates Center (now Xfinity Mobile Arena)—to keep the Flyers and 76ers in Philadelphia. Before the arena opened in 1996, he sold a 66% stake in all his businesses, including Spectacor, to Philadelphia-based Comcast, forming Comcast-Spectacor.
Quick Facts
- Birth Name
- Edward Malcolm Snider
- Birth Date
- January 6, 1933
- Birth Place
- Washington, D.C., U.S.
- Death Date
- 2016-04-11
- Death Place
- Montecito, California, U.S.
- Occupation
- Chairman
- Education
- University of Maryland
- Spouse
- Myrna Gordon (divorced) / Martha McGeary (divorced) / Christine Decroix (divorced) / Lin Spivak (2013–2016; his death)
- Children
- 4 with Myrna Gordon / 2 with Martha McGeary
Facts from the source article.
Lore & Background
Snider started a record company, Edge Ltd., with his friend Jerry Lilienfield in the 1960s, which was moderately successful. They eventually shut down the company, giving Snider the opportunity to join Jerry Wolman and Snider's brother-in-law Earl Foreman as they purchased the Philadelphia Eagles in 1964. Snider was given an option to purchase a 7% stake in the team and eventually served as vice president and treasurer, running the day-to-day operations of the Eagles. Upon learning that the NHL was planning to expand, Snider and Wolman made plans for a new arena—the Spectrum—to house both a hockey team and the 76ers. On February 8, 1966, the NHL awarded Philadelphia a conditional franchise, which would eventually be named the Philadelphia Flyers and start playing in 1967. In the summer of 1967, Snider and Wolman ended their business partnership and exchanged some of their business assets. Snider became the majority owner of the Flyers and Wolman became sole owner of the Spectrum. When Wolman placed the Spectrum in bankruptcy in 1971, Snider and Foreman took over the building, eventually paying off every creditor in full. In 1974 Snider created Spectacor as a holding company for the executives that ran the Flyers and the Spectrum. The Flyers became the first NHL expansion team to win the Stanley Cup in 1974, and to repeat as champions in 1975.
Reader's Guide
Snider's significance lies in his role as the founding majority owner of the Philadelphia Flyers, who became the first NHL expansion team to win the Stanley Cup in 1974 and repeated in 1975. He created Spectacor as a holding company and later sold a 66% stake of all his businesses to Comcast, forming Comcast-Spectacor, while remaining chairman. He privately financed a new arena, the CoreStates Center (now Xfinity Mobile Arena), to keep the Flyers and 76ers in Philadelphia. Snider also founded or acquired businesses including the regional premium cable channel PRISM and the first all-sports radio station WIP. In a 1999 Philadelphia Daily News poll, he was selected as the city's greatest sports mover and shaker, beating out legends such as Connie Mack, Sonny Hill, Bert Bell, and Roger Penske. His legacy includes the Ed Snider Youth Hockey Foundation, created in 2005 to provide inner-city children in the Philadelphia area with the opportunity to learn to play hockey. He was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1988 and the United States Hockey Hall of Fame in 2011.
Did You Know?
- Snider was a brother of the Sigma Alpha Mu fraternity.
- He was one of the founding contributors of the Ayn Rand Institute in 1985.
- Snider donated $5 million to the University of Maryland in 2014 to create the Ed Snider Center for Enterprise and Markets.
- The Philadelphia Sports Writers Association renamed its Humanitarian Award as the Ed Snider Lifetime Distinguished Humanitarian Award in 2012, with Snider as the first recipient.
More in Hockey Hall of Fame Builders and Executives, Part 3 1-24
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