MILWAUKEE – Everybody wants to be at American Family Field for the Brewers’ first World Series in 44 years – whether the game is on the field or on the scoreboard.
With sky-high demand for Games 1 and 2 Friday and Saturday at home against the Rays, the Brewers began selling tickets Thursday for watch parties for Games 3 and 4 Monday and Tuesday after the series shifts to Tropicana Field. They capped attendance at 31,000 so fans could comfortably see the scoreboard, and they charged $15 a ticket, with proceeds going to Brewers Community Foundation.
Both games sold out in less than 20 minutes.
“We’re glad that our fans can all share in this together,” Brewers owner Mark Attanasio said.
They also came together last week during the National League Championship Series, when a crowd of 16,228 watched on the big board in Milwaukee as the Brewers won Game 4 to finish a sweep of the Dodgers, giving the Brewers their first World Series berth since 1982. When Attanasio purchased the Brewers from the Selig family during the 2004-05 offseason, he heard a lot about ‘82, a fan-favorite team that connected with the city in a way unlike any other.
And for years, the Brewers celebrated that team with 25th anniversaries and 35th anniversaries and every other reason they could conjure. Now there’s a new team to celebrate for years.
“One of the things we want to do is create our own history,” Attanasio said. “Which I think we’ve done before this, but this is such a meaningful step. I’ve thought about this a lot since 2008. It’s just sinking in what a historic step it is now.
“When I talked to [manager] Pat Murphy the other day, he said, ‘Probably 10 years from now, we’ll be looking back on this and thinking of it.’ It’s all happening so fast. But I can say the electricity in the city is tangible. You can feel it.”