Flyers

Flyers Fans Upset with “Immortal Bricks” Being Removed During Wells Fargo Center Renovation

By Kyle Pagan

Published: Oct 25th, 2023 · 2:39 PM EDT

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There was an article in the Inky from Mike Newall about the Flyers removing more than 1,600 of the “immortal bricks” that were outside the Wells Fargo Center. These are the commemorative pavers that you were able to buy, starting way back in 1996, when the arena opened. This had some fans upset because they weren’t told about this:

On Tuesday, a spokesperson for the Wells Fargo Center said that some of the roughly 1,600 commemorative bricks were torn up as early as 2019 — and that all of them would be removed in the coming weeks. After two decades, some needed to be replaced due to “wear and tear,” the spokesperson said. Others are being replaced as part of the arena’s ongoing $400 million transformation project, which involves improvements to the pedestrian walkways that included the bricks.

Fans who bought bricks will be part of a new, yet-to-be-determined display, the spokesperson said.

I do see the irony in calling them “forever bricks” and then lasting less than 30 years. I also understand the sentimental nature of the bricks. The woman quoted in this story at first only knew that her brick was paved over and had no idea the Flyers had plans to use them for something else. That’s bad communication on the Flyers part. Probably something that wasn’t meant, but got lost in the chain of command as a new regime took over midway through the transformation project.

I still think this is a nothingburger. In fact a nothingburger with cheese and a side of onion rings. Things change. New regimes come in. We’ve had plenty since 1996. The old regime, admittedly not the brightest, made the decision to dig up the bricks beginning in 2019. But it’s not like they threw all the bricks in the Bagster and had Gritty one by one toss them off of the Walt Whitman. The spokesperson said they’re going to build a display that will be a part of the stadium, where I’m sure everyone will be able to still take pictures:

“We have kept detailed records of everyone who has purchased a brick, and we’re already in the process of reimagining the program with a new display so that everyone who purchased a brick will continue to be a special part of the arena,” the spokesperson said.

So far this new Flyers regime has already proved themselves to be more competent then the last one, so I’m going to give them the benefit of the doubt. Now if they stick the display somewhere that fans can’t get to or take pictures from, then we can bitch and moan about this. Until then, they’re taking worn out bricks, reupholstering them, and making them into a display around the arena. Feels like this will give the bricks an opportunity to actually become immortal instead of having tons of machinery and people walking over them and wearing them out daily.

Lets focus on the important things like the Flyers playing good hockey and wait for the display to be created before asking for heads to roll.