When it was announced that banking giant Wells Fargo was not renewing its naming rights contract with Comcast Spectacor for the current home of the Sixers, Flyers and Wings indoor lacrosse team, we asked you what the new name should be.
Readers engaged with our poll and left suggestions in our social media (thanks to most of you for not being too crude). We got around 200 responses, most of which fell into some broad buckets — Philly businesses, sports legends and culture.
We’ll move past those who offered some version of “South Philly Sports Center.” Here are the ones that stood out in each bucket.
Local businesses
One bucket was Philly-based companies and organizations, the most popular — and unsurprising — one being convenience store chain Wawa. Besides the obvious “Wawa Arena,” some more creative suggestions were the “Wawa Shorti Center,” the “Wawa Hoagie Hut,” “Wawa Sportsball Stadium,” and (not easy to pronounce) “Wa Jawn Wa.”
Other ideas included a turn-back-the-clock option, the Comcast Spectrum, as well as ones that referenced Four Seasons Total Landscaping, American Airlines, Sheetz — “just to piss off the Wawa devotees” — Ray’s “Happy Birthday” Bar, Philadium, and a couple twists on Tastykakes (“Tastykake Thunderdome” and “TastyKake Jawn,” for two of them).
Speaking of jawn
References to Philly culture were also popular, and Jawn stood out as the most popular way of representing the city. While many suggested it simply be called “The Jawn,” others got a little lengthier or creative, such as “Sports Jawn,” “the Octojawn,” and “Jawn Palace.”
Other ways to tie Philly culture into the name included calling it “LOVE Stadium” or “The LOVE Nest,” the “Wit or Witout Center,” “Broad Street Park,” and a Sun Ra-inspired “Arkestra Arkadium.”
There were also a few suggestions that referenced our place in U.S. history, with names like “Liberty Bell Arena,” “Athens of America,” “Free-dome Ring,” “Betsy Ross Center,” and “Ben Franklin Center.”
But what about Philly sports?
Most people know the building as a sports venue, so there were plenty of names that were about the city’s biggest sports figures. Former Comcast Spectacor chairman and team owner Ed Snider was the most popular name to be put on the center. Allen Iverson (“the Ivercenter,” maybe?), Wilt Chamberlain and Julius Erving weren’t far behind, along with Sylvester Stallone’s fictional boxer, Rocky Balboa. Other notable names were Dave Zinkoff and Denis Elton Cochran-Fikes.
Mascot-wise, no prizes for guessing Gritty was the most suggested, with some leaning more into that chaos with names like “Gritty’s Castle” and “Gritty’s Playhouse.”
Someone forgot — or didn’t care — that the Phillie Phanatic’s home is currently Citizens Bank Park and suggested it for the name. Suggestions including the right teams were “the 76 Flying Wings Arena,” “The TTP (Trust the Process) Center,” “Philadelphia Wings & Things,” and the very pessimistic — but understandable — “House of Tears.”
The best of the rest
With every internet poll, there will be at least a few “Boaty McBoatface” voters trying to disrupt proceedings; just ask Philadelphia Phoenix. What was surprising, though, was that “Arena McArenaface” and like were narrowly beaten out by people voting for local graffiti artist ShamCow.
A few people used the vote to voice their opinions on the proposed new Sixers arena near Center City’s Chinatown neighborhood, with names like “No Arena Chinatown,” “Sixerless Arena” and “76ers permanent home so as not to destroy Chinatown.”
The poll also got a couple votes for “Billy Penn Arena.” We promise it wasn’t any of us, though it does have a nice ring to it.
