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ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Brewers fans are well known for wintering in Arizona, particularly around the club’s spring training home in Phoenix. Former club owner and MLB commissioner emeritus Bud Selig has even kept a second home in nearby Paradise Valley, Arizona, for many years. But the Milwaukee faithful are now establishing a sizable fall presence in Florida.
Game 3 of the World Series at a revitalized Tropicana Field featured a hefty contingent of Brewers fans at the Rays’ home ballpark, upending some of the traditional fan dynamics around the event.
During the opening roster introductions and throughout the game, Brewers fans who traveled en masse from Wisconsin made themselves known, and the club’s famous ball-in-glove logo was everywhere. Fan chants of “Let’s Go Brewers” were also frequent and loud.
“[Our players] know that they have a fan base that follows them, loves them, supports them, travels for them,” said Brewers manager Pat Murphy. “I mean, there’s been a lot of places we went this year on the road that would just stun you how many Brewers people are there.
“You’re like, ‘We’re pretty far away and we’ve got all these Brewers people here?’ It’s really a neat thing,” Murphy said.
Market Dynamics
The presence of Brewers fans in Tampa is a logical extension of the many business milestones set during the opening two games of the World Series. Game 1 at American Family Field set a record for the most expensive get-in price on the ticket resale market at $2,338, while Game 2 narrowly missed matching that.
Merchandise sales in Milwaukee established several league and franchise records on a single-day basis and spanning the entire postseason. The Milwaukee market is also materially driving television viewership figures for Fox Sports.
The Tampa ticket situation, meanwhile, continued to erode leading up to Game 3. After starting at $766 when the Rays won the American League pennant last week, the get-in price ended at $422 on Monday, a 45% decline.
While the Rays have energized their fan base this year by reaching the World Series and striking a deal for a new stadium, that has run up against the passion of Brewers fans—as well as a Milwaukee team that jumped out to a 2–0 series lead. The vast difference in the ticket resale prices between Milwaukee and Tampa Bay only exacerbated that, as thousands of Brewers fans used the spread to travel to Florida.
“I think it’s big time,” Brewers first baseman Jake Bauers said about the team’s traveling fan base. “Just as a player in general, I think you draw energy from the fans at home as well as on the road. And to know that they’re traveling and spending their hard-earned money to come to a completely different state to watch us play baseball, you don’t want to let them down.”
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