Interest in the Brewers

[NievesNoNO]

I would guess that the recent success will up the Brewer fandom, but it is always related to "what have you done for me lately" when it comes to Brewers fans.

 

Lots of bandwagon fans for sure, but then again, there are tons of die-hard fans out there too.

 

It's all to be expected.

 

I read somewhere that if a team has success when you are about 10 years old you'll stick with them through thick and thin. I have no idea if that's actually true but if it is then the success in 2008 might be revealed in a larger "base" of fans now.

 

That's probably true for me. I decided to devote myself as a Brewer baseball fan at age 10, in 1987. Couldn't have picked a better year to become a fan.

[hawing]

This was cool to hear.

 

If you're in Madison and see any Metro buses with GO BREWERS on the marquee, you can partially thank me. We frequently see the Metro administrator on our bus ride to work and in 2011 I asked him why GO BREWERS couldn't be an option while GO PACKERS was. (GO BADGERS has been an option even longer, not surprisingly.) So he made it happen.

 

It is extra satisfying to see interest in the Brewers increase in Madison, which is normally so football crazed. It's one of those nice periods where I don't feel like quite as much of an outlier as usual.

[Outlander]

I'll have to look for that, thanks Hawing. I have now lived in Madison a few years and it has felt like sometimes I was the only Brewers fan around here. However, the last couple of weeks I have seen Brewers gear everywhere and tons of interest at bars and restaurants for the tiebreaker and playoff games.

[Lathund]

You need to experience something to know whether you enjoy it or not. Some bandwagon fans will undoubtedly move on when the bandwagon slows down or grinds to a halt. But among those who came aboard the bandwagon will also be some bitten by the Brewers/Baseball bug, who will become devoted fans for life. Bandwagon fans, as annoying as they may sometimes be, is a good thing. Both in itself, and for what it means; that the team is having success.

[nodakfan17]

Some people simply choose to maximize the importance of things in their life that are going well and minimize the importance of things that are going poorly. I don’t see anything wrong with that. I’m certainly guilty of having more interest in this year’s team than any team since 2011.

[BruisedCrew]

I’ve followed the Brewers ever since I took a day off of my senior year in high school to see their first Opening Day in 1970. So, I’ve seen the ups and downs in fan interest. While there are obviously going to be spikes when the team has its best seasons, IMHO the general level of interest in the Brewers has been much higher since 2007 than it was in the 1990’s. The opening of Miller Park (which allows fans to plan trips to the ball park without worrying about sitting in uncomfortable weather, rain delays, or postponements), the excitement generated by the Fielder, Braun, Weeks, etc teams, and the new ownership and its commitment to fielding competitive teams has brought interest to new levels that can sustain at least a few bad seasons. A season like this with some new “face of the franchise” players is going to keep that interest up for at least another few years.

 

Good times.

[homer]

I’ve followed the Brewers ever since I took a day off of my senior year in high school to see their first Opening Day in 1970. So, I’ve seen the ups and downs in fan interest. While there are obviously going to be spikes when the team has its best seasons, IMHO the general level of interest in the Brewers has been much higher since 2007 than it was in the 1990’s. The opening of Miller Park (which allows fans to plan trips to the ball park without worrying about sitting in uncomfortable weather, rain delays, or postponements), the excitement generated by the Fielder, Braun, Weeks, etc teams, and the new ownership and its commitment to fielding competitive teams has brought interest to new levels that can sustain at least a few bad seasons. A season like this with some new “face of the franchise” players is going to keep that interest up for at least another few years.

 

Good times.

 

 

The ownership point is an interesting one. I think most people got really tired of the "well we're a small market. nothing we can do about it." line that the Seligs used all the time. Now some of that isn't fair since the economics of baseball have changed quite a bit since those days but people in general hate excuses and Attanasio has never used that one.

[stalton]

As a Racine native who frequents Kenosha a fair amount, seeing Cubs gear both worn and in shops, there's been a definite shift. Whether it's the lack of cubs fans or the influx of Brewers fans, I don't know. There's obviously a changeover though