The official party line appears to be that the final decision on the Spectrum has not been reached.

I can actually vouch for this, as I encountered none other than Mr. Ed Snider on Sunday afternoon -- he was entering the Spectrum at the same time and via the same entrance I was. (I had something to drop off at the media/VIP entrance, so I was going into the building via that door.)

The second I saw him, the first words out of my mouth were, "Mr. Snider, please keep the Phantoms in Philadelphia". He looked at me in Phantoms jersey and Phantoms hat, and said, with a straight face, "No final decision has been made". Believe me, I was listening with all available senses tuned in full force, and I couldn't perceive that there was a flat-out falsehood being uttered.

We wouldn't even HAVE pro hockey in this city if not for Mr. Snider, so I figured that he was the best person to apply to. The Spectrum is HIS brainchild, plain and simple, and he didn't only put hockey on the map here, IT put HIM on the map here. So I would think he's got a vested interest in maintaning some connecting threads to the past, if it's at all financially viable to do so.

Now, here's hoping that they use the next several weeks to come up with a plan that doesn't completely dispense with the status quo while they're aspiring to build Shiny New Things that are meant to entice people to spend spare cash that they might not even have. Lots of things besides their bottom line depend on it.