Veteran venue and entertainment executive Peter Luukko, the president of Comcast-Spectacor Ventures, will expand his duties and become president and COO of Comcast-Spectacor, the Philadelphia-based sports and entertainment firm.
Luukko will oversee the day-to-day operations of Comcast-Spectacor, and the firm’s Ed Snider will continue in his capacity as chairman and CEO. In his new role, Luukko will maintain his title of chairman of Global Spectrum, the firm’s facility management firm.
“Working closely with Ed Snider, together we want to continue to grow Comcast-Spectacor utilizing the successes that we’ve been able to formulate at our venues,” Luukko tells Billboard.biz. “This is really a natural evolution of our business as we bring all of our entities together under one umbrella. I’ve been very fortunate to work with some incredibly talented people, and to get to this point in my career is truly a testament to those that have helped me along the way.”
In addition to Global Spectrum, Comcast-Spectacor Ventures includes the concession company, Ovations Food Services and the 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. Luukko will also assist Ed Snider in overseeing the Philadelphia Flyers and the Philadelphia 76ers.
Luukko’s career began in l984 as an intern at the New Haven (Conn.) Coliseum where he became director of marketing for the facility. He later joined the Providence (R.I.) Civic Center as assistant GM, then in l985 joined Philadelphia facility management firm Spectacor Management Group (SMG), at the time owned in part by Snider.
Luukko was VP of SMG’s Western Region and facility manager for SMG’s Los Angeles Coliseum and Sports Arena. In 1993, Luukko left SMG to become president of the Philadelphia Spectrum. In the following years he became responsible for managing Comcast-Spectacor’s growing interests, including the acquisition of Globe Facility Services in 2000.
After renaming the company Global Spectrum, the facility management firm grew from seven facilities in 2000 to just over 45 facilities in 2005.
