Fans upset after Wells Fargo Center removes commemorative bricks

What's happening: Wendy Schlessinger tells Axios that her son, Patrick, showed up for the team's home opener last week and went to find their brick. It was gone; replaced by newly laid cement.

• A diehard Flyers fan, Schlessinger says she bought her brick in the mid-90s as something special for her then-school-aged son. She was a single mom and they couldn't go to many games.
• The brick "was kind of a big deal because I didn't have a lot of disposable income," she says. Finding it every time they did hit a game "was a tradition. Something we enjoyed doing."

By the numbers: There were roughly 1,600 commemorative bricks around the arena.

• Of note: The brick program began in the mid-1990s when the building opened and ran through 2017.

The other side: The removal of the bricks began in 2019 and all of them will be removed in the coming weeks, a spokesperson for the Wells Fargo Center told Axios.

• That's because some were in poor condition due to age and others were taken up as part of the arena's recent $400-million renovation project, which included improvements to the pedestrian walkways where some of the bricks were located.

What to watch: Everyone who had a commemorative brick is expected to be included in a new display at the arena, the spokesperson said.