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Not to Toot my own horn but...this again proves no matter how small a market or team may be, if you put a competitive team on the field they will come out in droves.
Reports Forbes: "Miller Park itself seems to be the real draw--fans rave about their experience, including its affordability and amenities. It is consistently ranked by the media among the best parks to visit. In 2008, season attendance topped 3 million for the first time ever, and the team had a franchise-record 44 sellout games.
"Brewers management continues to invest to woo fans and increase revenue. In 2009, it overhauled 43 luxury suites, remodeled the team’s main retail store, upgraded several meeting rooms and added a Harley Davidson-themed seating deck. Perhaps Brewers owner Mark Attanasio--who made a public outcry for protection from such behemoths as the Yankees after they stole away his ace pitcher, C.C. Sabathia, with an unprecedented $161 million, seven-year contract--will now stop crying. After all, the Bronx Bombers managed a middling $45 in revenue per fan last season."
The Inside Edition people, following a tradition of fair and sober journalism established by former anchor Bill O’Reilly, visited Milwaukee’s ballpark during the recent homestand against the Cubs, which is about as representative of a typical Brewers game as prom night is for teenage sex and tux rentals. This, obviously, was by design, and Inside Edition came away with lots of hilarious footage and gory details: “At Miller Park, Inside Edition saw fans fighting on the stadium floor. They were all taken away in handcuffs. On Opening Day alone, there were 24 citations given and 25 people ejected from the park. Inside Edition saw one fan nearly passed out by the fifth inning and others just staggering around the stadium barely able to walk.”
A special Inside Edition investigation reveals that Brewers fans like to drink | Features | City Life | Milwaukee | Decider (http://milwaukee.decider.com/articles/a-special-inside-edition-investigation-reveals-tha,28368/ - broken link)
When a team makes the playoffs for the first time in 1,000 years, it's not surprising that fans will want to come and watch. If the Brewers can have some sustained success, maybe the fans will stay.
As A packer fan I know there are some die hard sports fans in Wisconsin. I'm a Red Sox fan at heart, but it's always great to see small market teams bring in crowds and do well.
There is also alot of drunken stupidity at any sporting arena. I was in Sox Park when they were playing Boston and almost got into a few fights for wearing my Red Sox stuff.
Drawing 3 million fans in a market the size of Milwaukee (even if Chicago is pretty close and people from north Chicagoland periodically go to Brewers games whether or not the Cubs are in town and also considering the secondary market areas for the Brewers are decent-sized and relatively close to Milwaukee) is a tremendous accomplishment. Based on what the Brewers have done the last few years (and even on what the Milwaukee Braves did back in the 1950's), Milwaukee is a very underrated baseball market, probably in the 2nd tier behind the Bostons and St. Louises of the MLB world.
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