Ed Snider

Edward Malcolm Snider (January 6, 1933 – April 11, 2016) was an American business executive. He was the chairman of Comcast Spectacor, a Philadelphia-based sports and entertainment company that owns the Philadelphia Flyers of the National Hockey League; Xfinity Mobile Arena; the regional sports network Comcast SportsNet; and Global Spectrum, an international facilities management company. He formerly owned the Philadelphia 76ers of the National Basketball Association, and ran the Philadelphia Eagles of the National Football League for a few years in the 1960s.

Snider was born to a Jewish family in the Washington, D.C. region, the son of a grocery-store chain owner. He attended the University of Maryland and earned his bachelor's degree in accounting.

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 (builder) and Snider's brother-in-law Earl Foreman (attorney) 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, one 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.

Snider would found or acquire several businesses during his career, most notably a regional premium cable channel, PRISM, and the first all-sports radio station, WIP. Amidst a lengthy battle with 76ers owner Harold Katz, the city of Philadelphia, and the city of Camden, New Jersey, Snider privately-financed a new arena to keep the Flyers and 76ers in Philadelphia, what would become the CoreStates Center (now Xfinity Mobile Arena).^{[citation needed]}

Prior to the CoreStates Center's opening in 1996, he sold a 66% stake of all of his businesses, including Spectacor, to Philadelphia-based Comcast, creating Comcast-Spectacor. However, Snider remained chairman of the venture, retaining a minority interest. As part of the deal, Comcast also purchased the 76ers, who had been Snider's tenants since 1971. Snider and Comcast CEO Brian Roberts became very close friends and business partners, remaining each other's closest advisor until Snider's death.

Soon after, Comcast-Spectacor created Comcast SportsNet in 1996. Comcast-Spectacor was also granted an expansion franchise in the AHL, the Philadelphia Phantoms. In a 1999 Philadelphia Daily News poll, Snider 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.

In 1985, Snider was one of the founding contributors of the Ayn Rand Institute (ARI), which was established by the philosopher Leonard Peikoff to promote Rand's philosophy of Objectivism. In 1990, after a dispute between ARI and philosopher David Kelley, Snider became a backer of Kelley's rival organization, the Institute for Objectivist Studies (now known as The Atlas Society).