Milwaukee= baseball town first?

[Alexpos]

Hello everyone,

Since I'm not from the are (not even the country) of Milwaukee, I was wondering wich sport is the most popular in Milwaukee?

I Know Wisconsin Is a Football state so is Milwaukee the same. since you are from the region do you what Is the % of people who go to packers game ans are not from Green bay? Also of you go at a sport bar In Milwaukee Will people taik more about the packer or the brewers? Finnaly were the brewers always as popular as They are now!?

Thanks!

 

 

[Houlie24x]

1. I think most would agree that both Milwaukee and Wisconsin are bigger Packer fans and football in general.

 

2. Up until the 1994, games were played at both County Stadium in Milwaukee and Lambeau Field in Green Bay. I think most people come up from Milwaukee regardless which is roughly a 2hr drive depending on where you are coming from.

 

3. It depends on what sport is in season when you go to a bar. I think it's roughly an even split. It depends on the bar and the people too.

 

4. The Brewers are definitely more popular now than they were in the mid 1990s through early 2000s. I can't say before that since I was too young to remember. I'm sure the early 1980s they were just as popular as they are now.

[Invader3K]

To expand on what Houlie said, I would say the Brewers were still very popular in the late '80s and early '90s. 1992 was a very successful year in which the team barely missed the playoffs. However, allowing Paul Molitor to leave after that season, and Robin Yount's retirement after the '93 season signaled an end of the team's "glory days." The team declined in popularity starting in the mid '90s. At the time, Bud Selig's quest for a new stadium was not very popular with many residents in Wisconsin.

[Baldkin]

Even during the baseball season when nothing is happening regarding football, the local talk radio guys still talk Packers.

 

Football is king in Wisconsin, and in Milwaukee. The Brewers, even 5 years ago, weren't nearly as popular as they are now. Funny what winning does to bring in the fans.

[brettac1]

I remember literally getting laughed at for wearing a Brewers hat everywhere I went in 2002. Not that I blame them, but it happened. The bandwagon is certainly at an all-time high for my life right now, but people will jump off fast like always.

[RightFieldCoder]

Bandwagon. It would amaze me when I'd see other people wearing Brewers gear in stores in the beginning of the millennium. Just like it was a shock to see Packers gear during Bush 41's presidency. The teams are good and now everyone's "always been a fan".

[Invader3K]

I don't think the Brewers' popularity is just a bandwagon thing anymore. Sure, if the team becomes terrible again, some interest will wane and attendance will take somewhat of a dip. However, I run into people that I wouldn't suspect are baseball fans at all, and they'll bring up stuff about the Brewers. They also get a lot more coverage on local TV and radio than they used to. I think Mark Attanasio has turned the Brewers into a brand that is beyond just the bandwagon effect. It's become "cool" to go to Miller Park and tailgate and to wear the hats and gear (both modern and retro)...I think you'll see that continue even when the team isn't a playoff contender.

[WV Brew]

Baseball was big in Milwaukee in the Braves era. When they left, many fans were upset enough to turn against baseball at least to a degree. That generation of fans is now old or getting close so it's less of a factor. Younger fans don't remember the pain of losing a team so they take maybe a less jaded view of baseball.

[brettac1]

I don't. There will still be a bunch of morons who are saying "why did WE let Fielder go?". Those people will be everywhere this season.

 

If they have a 70 win season, the next year will be back to 15 K crowds on weeknights. People might still wear the stuff, but just because they paid $30 for the hat and $25 for the shirsey.

[RockCoCougars]

Wisconsin is a huge bandwagon state. Not as bad as Minnesota, but close. The prime example is Badger sports, during my childhood Badger football was but a blip on the radar. There was a small bump in popularity during the McClain era, but outside of the student section, Camp Randall was absolutely dead during the 80's. I remember going to games in which the stadium was half full from then all the way into the early 90's. Not a soul cared about Badger basketball either. That popularity started with the success of the football team and with the Finley/Griffith team. Hockey was probably the most popular Badger sport during the 70's and 80's. The Packers were a joke through most of the same time period. There was always interest in the team, but maybe a fourth of what there is now. Casual fans didn't have 'Packer rooms', etc. When I was going to school, it was well known who the big Packer fans were. Not too many, there were probably as many Cowboy, Steeler and Viking fans (the annoying Bear fans didn't really proliferate until the Super Bowl season). The Bucks were successful and more popular then today, but never huge. Based on the sheer volume of 50-ish former 'huge Bucks fans' that I've met, my guess is that their popularity peaked a tad before my time during the Kareem era. As for the Brewers, they got huge during the late 70's, and after '82, they owned the state until probably '84 or so. They got a little spike again in '87 and that carried over losing a bit of steam until the strike in '94. Then they were pretty much the redheaded step brother of the 80's Packers until MP opened. That honeymoon lasted until Taylor and Lopes imploded. Interest didn't start to pick up again until Rickie and Fielder came up, now I'd say that it's pretty close to '82, though it will probably never get to that level again due to the popularity of the Badgers/Packers (lots more people these days like to advertise the fact that they find baseball boring as well).

 

To answer your question, I would say that Milwaukee and Wisconsin in general is more of a party town than a baseball town. As long as the team is winning, games will be 'fun' to go to. If they start losing 90 games again, they can probably milk another two years out of things, but they better work to get things turned around.

[patrickgpe]

Milwaukee will always be a football town. I think the reason for the recent brewers attendance success is the old phrase "people go where other people go". Brewer games are cool to be at these days. While the brewers struggled in 2010, the attendance drop wasn't too large. This could be because that there were alot of preseason expectations so people bought tickets before the season, but also alot of people go to drink and hang out with friends.

 

If they have a 70 win season, the next year will be back to 15 K crowds on weeknights. People might still wear the stuff, but just because they paid $30 for the hat and $25 for the shirsey.

 

i don't agree with this, in 2010 the brewers only won 77 games and still averages 2.77M fans, which is an average of 34K, to do that they cannot average 15K on weekday games.

[JimH5]

Wisconsin is a huge bandwagon state. Not as bad as Minnesota, but close. The prime example is Badger sports, during my childhood Badger football was but a blip on the radar. There was a small bump in popularity during the McClain era, but outside of the student section, Camp Randall was absolutely dead during the 80's. I remember going to games in which the stadium was half full from then all the way into the early 90's. Not a soul cared about Badger basketball either. That popularity started with the success of the football team and with the Finley/Griffith team. Hockey was probably the most popular Badger sport during the 70's and 80's. The Packers were a joke through most of the same time period. There was always interest in the team, but maybe a fourth of what there is now. Casual fans didn't have 'Packer rooms', etc. When I was going to school, it was well known who the big Packer fans were. Not too many, there were probably as many Cowboy, Steeler and Viking fans (the annoying Bear fans didn't really proliferate until the Super Bowl season). The Bucks were successful and more popular then today, but never huge. Based on the sheer volume of 50-ish former 'huge Bucks fans' that I've met, my guess is that their popularity peaked a tad before my time during the Kareem era. As for the Brewers, they got huge during the late 70's, and after '82, they owned the state until probably '84 or so. They got a little spike again in '87 and that carried over losing a bit of steam until the strike in '94. Then they were pretty much the redheaded step brother of the 80's Packers until MP opened. That honeymoon lasted until Taylor and Lopes imploded. Interest didn't start to pick up again until Rickie and Fielder came up, now I'd say that it's pretty close to '82, though it will probably never get to that level again due to the popularity of the Badgers/Packers (lots more people these days like to advertise the fact that they find baseball boring as well).

 

To answer your question, I would say that Milwaukee and Wisconsin in general is more of a party town than a baseball town. As long as the team is winning, games will be 'fun' to go to. If they start losing 90 games again, they can probably milk another two years out of things, but they better work to get things turned around.

 

Agreed fully. The Packers sucked throughout my childhood and were largely irrelevant up until I was about 30. My dad often had County Stadium Packers tickets and we couldn't give them away. So while football games will always be treated as an event, the great Packer idolitary will fade after a few 4-12 seasons.

 

But that's only if there is another winner to replace them with.

 

The great Brewers teams of the late 1970s and 1980s were fortunate to be playing in one of the worst eras of Packers history, so they got lots of interest from people looking for a winner--and for the good times that accompany.

 

[TheCrew07]

I wouldn't say that Milwaukee represents Wisconsinites as a whole by any stretch.

 

I come from a small town north of Green Bay and everyone I know and my entire family have always been huge fans of the Pack. The team was absolutely dreadful through the 80s and the stadium was still sold out, there wasn't a local blackout that I remember. How many other franchises could sustain the fan support with so little success from the Lombardi Era to the Holmgren Era? We never missed a game, as kids that's all we talked about on the play ground, etc.

 

We were also always huge Badger fans, my family has held season tickets for almost 20 years. Once my parents had enough disposable income Badger tickets were the first thing on their list, and my father graduated from UWM and my mother from Carroll College, there's no alumni allegiance in our family. The Badgers were even worse than the Packers but Camp Randall was always half full. We lived far enough away and didn't have season tickets at that time so we listened to the games on the radio, every game of every season. I went to the U of M, we used take our HS football team over to the dome for Gopher games (haven't been to the outdoor stadium yet, we haven't made enough on our fundraisers to be able to take the kids the last 2 years) because they were more cost effective than trying to get 60 tickets to a Badger game, the place was never more than 1/4 full even in their best years. The only sold out games I've been to in the Metrodome were games against the Packers and Badgers where half the stadium was full of folks from WI. I agree that the people from MN are the biggest bunch of bandwagon turds I've ever been around, the only sport that was ever sold out was Gopher Hockey (which was a good time btw). It was always a big deal for me and friends if the Badgers were going to be on national TV, now we complain if a single Badger game in a season isn't on national TV.

 

Much like the Badgers we only made it to one or 2 Brewer games a year and it was a huge deal for my family, but we listened to 90% on the radio. It didn't matter what kind of work we were doing around the stable, whatever time of year it was we the game on.

 

I'll agree about Badger basketball, it was never on my radar until I moved back home from MN in 1997. I was primarily a football/hockey fan through my youth, I don't even remember Badger basketball games being on the radio? Realistically that was probably because my dad coached basketball and we were always at the games and practice (just like football), but unlike football season where Friday was HS, Saturday was college, and Sunday/Monday the NFL, in basketball season the Badgers were playing when we were playing. Hockey was the weekend sport and easier to follow...

 

If we weren't participating in our sports or school, mom had us all messing around with stuff for the stable I don't know how my dad made it on 4 hours of sleep all those years. The games were the one thing that everyone would agree to listen to on the radio, especially as us kids got older and went our way musically. The vast majority of my friends were from farming families as well, who also listened to a ton of radio while in the tractor, milking cows, or whatever. It's probably the difference between going up in a more rural setting vs growing up in an urban environment. The Packers, Badgers, and Brewers always mattered to us, they were kind of our connection to the outside world.

[RockCoCougars]

I think that the #2 thing that has fueled the resurgence in Badger sports popularity (beside the winning) is the fact that most games are televised. Back in the 'dark era', maybe 2 or 3 Badger football games were televised per year. I remember even Badger basketball on local TV more than football for sure. In order to be a die hard fan of either, you had to go to the games or listen to the radio. The only way to see the football games on TV was usually via tape delay on WPT (back in the 80's at least). Now days people complain when a Badger pre-conference game is only available on streaming. For better or worse, the Packers have always been on TV. I do credit the fans for selling out the games forever, but it's always been a status thing to have Packers tickets for whatever reason. Lambeau was much smaller back then too. Another thing to consider is that sports in general are much more popular with the masses then they were 30 years ago, especially with women.

[dadofandrew]

Several Packers' games were blacked out in Milwaukee because County Stadium did not sell out. It was not just a coincidence the Packers quit playing games there.

[Law Diggety]

I wouldn't say that Milwaukee represents Wisconsinites as a whole by any stretch.

 

I come from a small town north of Green Bay and everyone I know and my entire family have always been huge fans of the Pack. The team was absolutely dreadful through the 80s and the stadium was still sold out, there wasn't a local blackout that I remember. How many other franchises could sustain the fan support with so little success from the Lombardi Era to the Holmgren Era? We never missed a game, as kids that's all we talked about on the play ground, etc.

_______

To be fair the waiting list for season tickets to the Packers has been extremely long for decades. I also come from northern WI and we had season tickets until about 2000 before we gave them up. The games were sold out but you could also find tickets from scalpers going for 2-3 bucks before the game (when they really stunk). People just wanted to get anything for the tickets while keeping the season tickets. 3 of my friends and I went to the game before the Superbowl against the Panthers and got offered 2400 for our seats but we didn't sell them because we were in high school and couldn't go to the bars or even the casino to spend the cash, but we could drink in the parking lot.

[TheCrew07]

To be fair the waiting list for season tickets to the Packers has been extremely long for decades.

 

Isn't that exactly my point about fan support? It doesn't really why you hold the tickets, you're still holding onto them and supporting the team. Many people in other markets would have just dropped them.

[RockCoCougars]

Packers season tickets have always been viewed as a status symbol in a way, and rightly so considering the decades-long waiting list. Now days they are also considered an investment. Based on the huge seat licensing costs ticket holders had to kick in a few years ago, there is no way that many of these folks will give them up. Most of the Packers tickets that I know of are 2nd or 3rd generation 'family' tickets, in which most are split up game by game, with many listed on Stub Hub.

[Alexpos]

and are all of brewers fan are packers fan? The reason I ask, is since I really like the Brewers (since I'm from Montreal I dont have a home team) but I'm also a Lions fan (I know...) but for me football is less important than baseball by lage margin. So it's kind of weird for cheering for Detroit in Football and Milwaukee in baseball..or not?

[trwi7]

It's not weird. There are plenty of Brewers fans that are Bears fans, plenty of Cubs fans that are Packers fans etc.

[PKBadger]

I think there are a number of factors that would prevent a massive defection of fans in any of these sports.

 

1) Sports takes up a greater chunk of the national consciousness now than it did 25 years ago. People identify with the teams more and they've become more of our self-image. I know that ESPN has trademarked the term "SportsNation" but there's a lot of truth to it.

2) As mentioned above, nearly all the games are televised now, plus the existence of the internet makes it easy to be a fan.

3) Success breeds success. The Badgers have been able to funnel the rewards of their winning seasons into new facilities that will help attract the best athletes. Kohl Center, Camp Randall renovation, and now there's a new hockey practice facility in the works. I hear that the football training spaces are pretty outdated compared to the rest of the Big Ten, so I'd imagine that's next on Barry Alvarez's wishlist. With the Packers, not only does the team have great management in place (Murphy and Thompson) but the NFL's league roster structure and salary cap makes it easy to go "worst to first" and that makes it easy to avoid the type of 15-year droughts like Green Bay experienced in the late '70s and '80s.

 

There's much more risk of the Brewers falling into a funk, but Attanasio has exhibited steady leadership and found ways to make Miller Park appealing to casual fans and make it a family fun destination. Tailgating helps here too.