Brewers' season-ticket sales are 20% ahead of where they were this time last seasonGetty Images
Brewers Owner & Chair Mark Attanasio said that the team has "budgeted this season for attendance to increase modestly to about 2.7 million from 2.6 million" in '17, according to Rich Kirchen of the MILWAUKEE BUSINESS JOURNAL. The Brewers have "garnered higher expectations" with offseason additions of CF Lorenzo Cain and RF Christian Yelich, and another playoff run "could result in season attendance closer to 3 million." Season-ticket sales are running about 20% "ahead of last season, but that doesn't equate" to a 20% "increase in total attendance." The Brewers "added to their payroll this year," which will be about $100M compared to $60M a year ago. But Attanasio noted that "adding talent like Cain and Yelich can increase attendance" (BIZJOURNALS.com, 4/2). Attanasio said of spending more on players than revenues might warrant, "We're always prepared to lose money." Attanasio said of Brewers GM David Stearns, "[He] has the discipline where he asks for a budget and I say no, then he asks for a budget and I say no, then I finally give him a budget. We look at what we need to do for the team, then look at what we think the attendance might be. The math almost never works to say, 'We'll add this player and make it up with attendance.' We just focus on the baseball side of things and then readjust the business budget, not in the other direction" (MILWAUKEE JOURNAL SENTINEL, 4/3).
