Brewers are box-office hit despite distractions
Losing a marquee player to free agency and possibly another to a lengthy suspension isn’t a typical formula to sell tickets.
That hasn’t put a damper on the Milwaukee Brewers’ offseason, however.
Despite the departure of Prince Fielder, anticipated for years because of the club’s inability to afford him, and the looming specter of a 50-game suspension for reigning National League MVP Ryan Braun, the Brewers say they anticipate setting a single-season record for tickets sold.
That’s no small feat, given they topped 3.07 million in attendance last season, when they won the NL Central Division while realizing Fielder likely was a goner.
After ESPN reported Braun faced a 50-game ban for failing a drug test — he is ap- pealing the result — the outlook was all the gloomier in Milwaukee. Fielder and Braun combined to hit 71 home runs and drive in 231 runs last season.
The ticket-buying public appears undaunted.
“There has been no decline or plateau, even after the announcement Braun was under investigation,” Brewers chief operating officer Rick Schlesinger told Mlb.com at the club’s preseason Fan Fest on Sunday. “We are well ahead of last year.”
But it doesn’t hurt to add a superstar, either.
Detroit Tigers vice president Ron Colangelo said that in the three days after sign- ing Fielder to a nine-year, $214 million deal, the club’s ticket office received an average of 4,000 calls a day; about 200 calls is normal for this time of year.
And in the five weeks after they signed slugger Albert Pujols to a $240 million deal, the Los Angeles Angels sold 3,000 season-ticket packages and 2,300 equivalent season tickets in the form of miniplans.
Pujols’ departure from the St. Louis Cardinals should aid the Brewers’ cause. Center fielder Nyjer Morgan is preaching calm.
“Everything is going to be OK,” Morgan told the Fan Fest crowd of more than 12,000. “There’s no panic.”