via philadelphia.about.com

It's official, the Spectrum will join the Vet and JFK as nothing more than a memory...

"This will be the final year of the Spectrum," Comcast-Spectacor chairman Ed Snider announced this morning.

"This has been one of the hardest decisions I've ever had to make," he said. "The Spectrum is my baby. It's one of the greatest things that has ever happened to me, but after a lot of thinking and discussions, we all feel it is in our best interest to close the Spectrum at the conclusion of the upcoming 2008-09 Philadelphia Phantoms and Kixx seasons."

The spectrum will be replaced by the Philly Live project that was announced earlier this year.

I have to wonder what this means for the future of a team like the Phantoms. Clearly they can't play at the Wachovia cetner so they'll either have to be moved or the Flyers will have to find a new team to use as their primary farm team. I'd love to see the Flyers put the Phantoms up in some sort of smaller arena in South Jersey maybe near their Voorhees practice facilities. I've always thought a team could really thrive there.

With the spectrum gone, I suppose that leaves Franklin Field and the Palestra as the most famous and historic Philly sports arenas.

A tribute to the history of the spectrum has been launched at RememberTheSpectrum.com.