'It just heightens everything': Xfinity Live! and Live! Casino & Hotel gear up for capacity weekend with Phillies, Eagles, Flyers games
Xfinity Live! could see its second busiest weekend of sales ever as the Philadelphia Flyers, Phillies and Eagles all host games this weekend.
The food and entertainment venue at 1100 Pattison Ave. and adjacent to the Sports Complex in South Philadelphia is expecting to host between 20,000 and 25,000 visitors between Thursday and Sunday, with those numbers possibly increasing to 30,000 depending on the results of the games, Director of Operations Justin DeSalvo told the Business Journal.
With such numbers, this could mark the venue's second highest weekend of sales since 2012 when it made around $1.2 million during the Flyers' playoff game that coincided with the Phillies' home opening week.
"Our busiest weekends have always been opening weekends, but we think that this is just going to crush that," DeSalvo said.
Live! Casino & Hotel – owned by Maryland-based Cordish Cos., which developed Xfinity Live! in partnership with Comcast Spectacor – anticipates similar success. Located at 900 Packer Ave. and adjacent to Citizens Bank Park, Live! Casino & Hotel's 208 rooms are sold out every night from Thursday through Sunday, and it expects more than 42,000 people in the Sports Complex area for the Phillies' games on Friday and Saturday.
Both Xfinity Live! and Live! Casino & Hotel are accustomed to large crowds, but this weekend's foot traffic is busier than usual. On a typical Sunday home game at Lincoln Financial Field, Xfinity Live!'s restaurants and bars typically serve 8,000 to 10,000 visitors and make a few hundred thousand dollars in sales, while Live! Casino & Hotel's rooms typically sell out for one or two nights.
On such occasions, both know well in advance and can prepare accordingly. But given the unpredictable nature of the playoffs, the venues had just over a week's notice that Philadelphia would host two Phillies postseason games. They just happen to overlap with the Flyers' season opener on Thursday evening and the Eagles' game against the Dallas Cowboys on Sunday.
To accommodate the influx of visitors, Live! Casino & Hotel has made preparations such as increasing staff volume. To add to the fanfare, the staff will sport Phillies, Eagles and Flyers jerseys throughout the weekend, said Rob Christopher, the director of marketing at Live! Casino & Hotel.
Live! will broadcast each game throughout the 510,000-square-foot hotel, gaming, dining and entertainment space, along with the usual college football games.
"When your sports teams are doing as well as they are, being undefeated as the Eagles are, and the Phillies taking one from Atlanta in Atlanta, it just heightens everything up," Christopher said.
While Live! Casino & Hotel is increasing staff for the weekend, Xfinity Live! is taking a different approach, DeSalvo said. Its employees will ready for longer work days as waves of fans flow through its restaurants and bars before, during and after games.
"We're just used to doing large capacity and large crowds on a normal basis, so this is really right in our wheelhouse," DeSalvo said. "We excel on these type of weekends."
Adding yet more draw to the area, the Phillies' Rally for Red October bus tour will make a stop outside of Live! Casino at 1 p.m. on Friday, its last destination before heading to Citizens Bank Park for the team's third game of the series.
"Obviously this town bleeds green and red — depending on the sports — so I know that the team itself will be prepped and pumped up to be a part of it," Christopher said. "The energy around the building has been just electric for the last week, so knowing that, we're just super excited for everything that's coming."
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