The Brewers’ success extended beyond the field this year, with the Milwaukee ball club drawing the third highest viewership during the season, a record number of fans to Miller Park and large fan support for sports bars and retailers across the city.
A.C. Nielsen, a global information and measurement company, reported last Wednesday that 7.9 percent of local households tuned in to watch the Brewers cruise to a National League Central title. The Brewers tied with the Red Sox at that viewership mark, falling behind only the Philadelphia Phillies (9.7) and the St. Louis Cardinals (8.9).
The club’s viewership was 63 percent higher than last season.
The Brewers’ deep playoff run drew nearly triple the number of viewers, with 22.6 percent of people watching the post season, according to the report. This was also the third highest viewership amongst cities competing in the playoffs.
Many Marquette students showed their support across campus by tuning into the squad as well as attending games in hopes of helping to bring another championship to the state after the Packers won Super Bowl XLV in January.
Matt Campbell, a senior in the College of Communication, said at the beginning of the year he vowed to go to every Brewers World Series game in Milwaukee if the team made it that far.
While the Brewers were in the National League Championship Series, Campbell said he was sweating it out because he did not want to completely deplete his bank account.
“But what’s a couple hundred dollars compared to seeing the Brewers in the World Series?” he said. “That’d be an experience of a lifetime.”
The Milwaukee Brewers have never won the World Series. In 1982, when the team was in the American League, they lost to the Cardinals. The last Milwaukee World Series victory was by the Braves in 1957.
Kevin Clark, a junior in the College of Arts & Sciences from Trevor, Wis., said he watched and attended many games during the season when he could. He also said he watched all of the playoff games.
“The team has consistently made off-season moves to become a better team, especially since Mark Antanasio has taken over the Brewers,” Clark said. “The team getting better obviously makes people want to watch more.”
The Brewers’ winning ways affected more than television viewership, though. A record number of 3,071,373 fans attended a game at Miller Park in 2011. The Brewers took out an advertisement in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel last Wednesday thanking fans for the record-breaking mark.
Restaurants and businesses also benefited from the improved team. Marty Schwader, manager at Brewski’s Sports Bar at 306 N. 76th St., estimated in September that the Brewers’ run this year increased business by 60 percent compared to last year.
Schwader said he hoped another strong Packer season would continue the trend.