(CelebrityAccess MediaWire) —
Peter Luukko, the president of Comcast-Spectacor Ventures, will expand his duties and become president and chief operating officer of Comcast-Spectacor, the Philadelphia-based sports and entertainment firm. Luukko will oversee the day-to-day operations of Comcast-Spectacor, while Ed Snider will continue in his capacity as chairman and chief executive officer.
"Over the past five years, Comcast-Spectacor has grown into a nationally recognized leader in sports and entertainment," said Snider. "Peter is one of the most dynamic individuals in the industry and naming him as President of our company is a no-brainer."
In his new role, Luukko will oversee the day-to-day operations of Comcast-Spectacor Ventures as well as maintain his title of chairman of Global Spectacir. Comcast-Spectacor Ventures includes, in addition to Global Spectrum, the company's concession company, Ovations Food Services, and the company's full-service ticketing firm, New Era Tickets.
Comcast-Spectacor also owns three minor league affiliates of the Baltimore Orioles and two Philadelphia arenas – The Wachovia Center and Wachovia Spectrum. In addition, Luukko will assist Ed Snider in overseeing the Philadelphia Flyers and the Philadelphia 76ers.
"I've learned a lot from Ed Snider in the past 20 years," said Luukko. "He has been a tremendous mentor and a terrific supporter. I look forward to my new operational responsibilities and working side-by-side with my fellow members of the Office of the Chair (consisting of CEO Ed Snider, Vice Chairman Fred Shabel, Executive Vice President and CFO Sandy Lipstein and Executive Vice President and General Counsel Phil Weinberg). We will work to create new business opportunities for Comcast-Spectacor in all aspects of facility management, sports ownership and operation, food and concessions, as well as consulting in those same fields."
Luukko's extensive sports management career began in l984 after parlaying an internship at the New Haven Coliseum into the director of Marketing for the facility. He later joined the Providence Civic Center as the facility's assistant general manager. In l985 Luukko joined Spectacor Management Group (SMG), at the time owned in part by Snider, and soon became vice president of SMG's Western Region and facility manager for SMG's Los Angeles Coliseum and Sports Arena. During that time, he was credited for greatly improving the facilities' reputation. In addition, he had spent time overseeing other SMG facilities.
In 1993, Luukko left SMG to become president of the Spectrum. In the following years he became responsible for managing Comcast-Spectacor's growing interests and helped the company into a nationally recognized leader in sports and entertainment with the acquisition of Globe Facility Services in 2000. After renaming the company Global Spectrum, the public assembly management firm grew from seven facilities in 2000 to just over 45 facilities in 2005. Additionally in 2000, Comcast-Spectacor acquired Leisure Food Services and renamed the company Ovations Food Services. Comcast-Spectacor made a significant investment into ticketing technology company, Paciolan and implored their technology to create a full-service ticketing company, New Era Tickets in 2004. –Jane Cohen and Bob Grossweiner
