by KYW's Steve Tawa
The name of the South Philadelphia arena in which the Flyers and 76ers play may -- or may not -- be changing, with the sale of Wachovia's banking operations to Citigroup (see related story).
Back in 1996, Corestates paid $1.5 million upfront for a $40-million, 29-year naming rights deal to call it the Corestates Center. That lasted only two years, because Corestates became First Union in 1998.
We called it the First Union Center through 2003, then Wachovia acquired the naming rights.
While those mergers resulted in name changes, Citigroup is only buying Wachovia's banking assets, including its bank branches.
Wachovia still has other operations, and retains naming rights for the building, according to Comcast-Spectacor, which owns the Flyers and the Sixers.
Company president Peter Luukko says they just don't know yet if there will be a name change. Citi could still pursue naming rights with Wachovia and Comcast-Spectacor, but it already has those rights for the New York Mets' new home, "Citi Field."
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