3,000,000 in attendance. Latest: 3,000,000th ticket sold per JSOnline

[wisconsinfan47]

It looks like it's gonna happen this year.

 

2,128,627 so far with 24 games left. An average of 36,307 over those remaining home games will put us there. Considering that we're at 37,344 per game so far this year (with at least a 15 game sellout streak going on right now), I think we're well on our way.

 

Looking at the top 10 in home attendance this year, we're at #10 behind only the New York teams, the LA teams, Chicago, Boston, St. Louis, Philly, and Detroit.

 

Nice, Wisconsin. Very nice.

[dadofandrew]

Barring a roof problem, it's a guarantee.

 

The only question right now is 3.1M or not.

 

When my son and I decided to go to tomorrow's game, I never dreamed a Monday afternoon game would sell out...I thought 32-35K tops. It is astounding.

[yount19.u]

When my son and I decided to go to tomorrow's game, I never dreamed a Monday afternoon game would sell out...I thought 32-35K tops. It is astounding.

 

Plus it's against the worst team in the NL. People need their Brewer crack.

[owbc]

This attendance surge can't possibly last more than a few years (see Toronto and Cleveland). However, it's great while it lasts and a playoff appearance would make the state go crazy.

 

BTW, Monday August 18th is also down to single seats/obstructed view.

[pitchleague]

This attendance surge can't possibly last more than a few years (see Toronto and Cleveland). However, it's great while it lasts and a playoff appearance would make the state go crazy.

Winning baseball begats butts in seats. Cleveland had some astounding sellout streak (into the 100s, I think) when they played well, but the minute they were a second-division team (that's a very old saying now; look it up if you don't understand it) the crowds stayed away.

Believe it--it would be the exact same thing in Boston if they suddenly had a really lousy season (maybe not right away, but definitely during a second consecutive season of crappy baseball). It won't happen in New York until 2010 at the earliest, however, due to old ballparks closing and new parks opening next year (the "novelty" effect.)

The Brewers will continue to put people in their park as long as they are a winning, contending ballclub. And will likely sellout every home game from July-September every season that they are a winning, contending ballclub.

 

[1992casey]

The Indians' sellout streak ran for 455 games.

[kramnoj]

This attendance surge can't possibly last more than a few years (see Toronto and Cleveland).

 

Why couldn't the attendance keep up if the Brewers remained competitive? Cleveland's attendance fell when the team stopped winning. Same with Toronto.

 

This town loves to show up and root for a good Brewer team. As long as a good Brewer team is on the field, I don't see many reasons to think that fans will stop showing up.

[wibadgers23]

This attendance surge can't possibly last more than a few years (see Toronto and Cleveland). However, it's great while it lasts and a playoff appearance would make the state go crazy.

 

BTW, Monday August 18th is also down to single seats/obstructed view.

Wow, I'm glad I got my tickets when I did then. I believe CC is going on the 18th too.

[InBraunWeTrust]

This attendance surge can't possibly last more than a few years (see Toronto and Cleveland).

 

Why couldn't the attendance keep up if the Brewers remained competitive? Cleveland's attendance fell when the team stopped winning. Same with Toronto.

 

This town loves to show up and root for a good Brewer team. As long as a good Brewer team is on the field, I don't see many reasons to think that fans will stop showing up.

 

I think part of the attendance surge has to be a sort of "honeymoon period" where the Brewers are suddenly really actually competitive and fun to watch. If they keep winning next year and after, a number of people will probably become more comfortable with watching the games on TV instead.

[kramnoj]

I think part of the attendance such has to be a sort of "honeymoon period" where the Brewers are suddenly really actually competitive and fun to watch. If they keep winning next year and after, a number of people will probably become more comfortable with watching the games on TV instead.

 

How long is the honeymoon period supposed to last, and when would you say it started? Attendance has been increasing for years.

 

As long as the Brewers are good and being a Brewers fan is fun, Miller Park is going to be packed (assuming the FO doesn't misread the market and makes ticket prices too high). One thing that I've noticed is that there are plenty of people that love to go to the game, even if they aren't paying much to the action. MP is just a fun place to go out and hang out with friends. As long as that is the case, MP will be packed with fans and friends alike.

[logan82]

kramnoj wrote:

One thing that I've noticed is that there are plenty of people that love to go to the game, even if they aren't paying much to the action.

I could do without the people who go to the game and don't pay attention to the game.

[theavrock]

I could do without them too, but the more money this team makes the better players we can afford to keep. If it means having to ignore some idiots when I am there to keep the talent level up that is something I am more than willing to do.

[InBraunWeTrust]

I could do without them too, but the more money this team makes the better players we can afford to keep. If it means having to ignore some idiots when I am there to keep the talent level up that is something I am more than willing to do.

 

Not to mention most of these people are cute girls decked out in Brewers gear. It's never bad to have them around.

[owbc]

I'm not saying that we will be going back to < 2,000,000 fans per season. I'm just saying that 3,000,000 is too high for the Brewers market size and I highly doubt that they will be able to accomplish that for more than 5 years. There are only 1.5 million people in the Milwaukee metro area and 5.5 million in Wisconsin. It's the smallest market in baseball and that isn't going to change. Gas prices aren't going to get any cheaper either, so those who frequently go to games from outside the Milwaukee metro area will be less inclined to go when gas is [likely going to be] $6/gallon in a few years. While it is true that this probably will have only a small impact on attendance, the point is that it isn't going to get any better than right now.

 

Don't get me wrong, Milwaukee is an amazing baseball city. Even in the bad years, the tailgaiting tradition and the retractable roof are going to keep attendance high. This run by the Brewers is also going to help to raise a new generation of kids that follow the Brewers as well as the Packers.

 

However, winning baseball does not necessarily attract fans.

 

Cleveland is a great example. They were World Series contenders last year, just like they were in the 90's. However, they only drew 2.27 million fans last year and are on pace to do less than that this year, despite being 1 win away from the World Series last year. Arizona is another example. During their first World Series run in 2001, they were amazingly popular, drawing 2.7 million in 2001. Furthermore, they followed it with the typical post-World Series surge, drawing 3.1 million in 2002. However, during their latest playoff run, the NLCS games against the Rockies were played in front of thousands of empty seats. Of course that would never happen in Milwaukee, but it definitely proves that winning baseball does not necessarily equal big crowds, even when a trip to the World Series is on the line. I think that after the novelty of winning the World Series wore off in Toronto and Arizona, the majority of fair weather fans had seen what they wanted to see and lost interest.

 

During their current run, the Brewers are doing a great job energizing the fan base and especially attracting new fans. Still, I highly doubt that 2 successful seasons has created a new breed of die hard fans. Sure traffic on this site and other Brewers sites has increased, but it takes time to cultivate new fans who live and die Brewers. Maybe they will stay on as fans when times get rough again--Packers fans have a reputation of that--but some of them will certainly go back to other things.

 

The best piece of evidence that I have is Friday night's game. I was shocked to see about 10,000 people get up and leave during the late innings--especially at the end of the 8th inning. The rows were full of people getting out of their seats and heading for the parking lot at the same time that the rest of us were giving CC Sabathia a standing ovation. I don't care if the game was over or if they were beating the traffic or even if they didn't really care about the game and were just there for fun, I have my doubts whether those fans are going to be there in the long run, or if the Brewers are just a novelty to them that will wear off.

 

I'm not saying that the Brewers have or will ever have a bad fan base, I just think that we should celebrate 3,000,000 fans because it is an extremely special accomplishment that might not happen again for a very long time.

[pitchleague]

I think that after the novelty of winning the World Series wore off in Toronto and Arizona, the majority of fair weather fans had seen what they wanted to see and lost interest.

This statement is right on the money, ESPECIALLY in Arizona as I witnessed that first hand. I know I was that way last year during the post-season (I was holding out for World Series tickets, FWIW). However, driving 4 hours there and 4 hours back is not that appetizing for me. But the locals sure stayed away in droves all season last year and, for the most part, this season too.

[owbc]

But the locals sure stayed away in droves all season last year and, for the most part, this season too.

I'm curious, how much press do the Diamondbacks get this year? I see they are averaging 30,000+ fans per game, which isn't bad at all, but are the fans/media excited about the division race, are they expecting them to fall to the Dodgers, or are they generally apathetic?

[pitchleague]

they get plenty of press here and the media is trying to have faith that they can hold on to the division lead for the last 6 weeks.

 

The fans, on the other hand, seem very apathetic about it. Except for the die-hards (and there are some here), many fans really don't care what the team does until September or even October. I've spoken with many fans and, by far, the majority of them are just at the game to be "seen" by others and/or meet up with friends to go clubbing afterward (it's a very popular meeting place, this Chase Field and it's Diamond Club bar thingy in right-centerfield.) It's pretty pathetic.

[bucks2281]

It appears as if the entire 6 game homestand next week is sold out. SRO is being sold for Monday, Saturday, and Sunday. You cannot purchase tickets together for Tuesday and Friday's games, and you can only purchase two tickets together in the rafters on Wednesday. Plus, the Labor Day game is approaching sellout status quickly. So, the sellout streak will likely reach AT LEAST 22 games. The Tuesday, 9/2 game is a BP game, so that may reach sellout status, but the Tuesday after Labor Day game is still a difficult sell. Needless to say, this is very exciting news!

[1992casey]

In a recent TV interview, Rick Schlesinger said it looked as if the Brewers would sell out the entire month of August; they seem to be on track to do that.

 

I'm surprised there are still tickets for Wednesday. When we purchased tickets about three weeks ago, we opted out of Wednesday in favor of Tuesday because the only non-single Wednesday seats available were in the higher reaches of the Terrace.

[dadofandrew]

The question now is not 3M, but 3.1M.

[wisconsinfan47]

The question now is not 3M, but 3.1M.

Averaging just over 40,000 a game (40,307 to be exact) will get us 3.1. That's entirely possible...I'd even say probable.

 

[bork]

My question is whether they can sell out the rest of the season. Some of the weekday September games could be tough, but the playoff race could help that.

 

That would make 37 straight sellouts and 54 total for the season (2/3rds of the season would be sellouts).

[PlayerHader]

The best piece of evidence that I have is Friday night's game. I was shocked to see about 10,000 people get up and leave during the late innings--especially at the end of the 8th inning. The rows were full of people getting out of their seats and heading for the parking lot at the same time that the rest of us were giving CC Sabathia a standing ovation. I don't care if the game was over or if they were beating the traffic or even if they didn't really care about the game and were just there for fun, I have my doubts whether those fans are going to be there in the long run, or if the Brewers are just a novelty to them that will wear off.

 

I'm not saying that the Brewers have or will ever have a bad fan base, I just think that we should celebrate 3,000,000 fans because it is an extremely special accomplishment that might not happen again for a very long time.

Obsesessed, you need to remember that a good portion of the crowd is probably driving from La Crosse, Green Bay, Wausau, Eau Claire etc...and need to head home that night. My father, brothers and I are as big a Brewer fans as there are, but if we are at a game when there is little doubt of the outcome we like to get a head start on that 3.5 hour drive home. Leaving in the 8th inning isn't necessarily a sign of bandwagon fans.

 

That said, 3 million is definitely not a number that can be maintained over several years. 2.7 or so would be a good goal over a long term span.

[olliegjw]

The more success the Brewers have, the more season ticket packages will be sold. This will leave fewer seats for the "bandwagon" fans, and should lead to more baseball educated, and enjoyable crowds.

[brwrsfan]

We have 2 bobblehead games remaining (both going to be popular being Hardy and Hart) and 3 games against the Cubs. Those are almost guranteed to have at least 42,000 there, if not more. I would think averaging 40,307 shouldn't be a problem once you factor those games in.