Attendance followup

The Prodigal Beat writer gets a front page spot in the PC today for this story that started as one of his blog posts a few weeks ago.

Attendance at [Time Warner Cable Field at] Fox Cities Stadium in Grand Chute bigger than ever for Wisconsin Timber Rattlers

Front office officials recently announced the Rattlers, propelled by their new affiliation with the Milwaukee Brewers, had eclipsed the 100,000 attendance barrier through the first half of a season for the first time in team history as they welcomed 107,362 fans in 33 openings.

A crowd of 3,322 checked out Wisconsin's 4-3 Midwest League win over Clinton on Wednesday, raising the season total to 128,026 through 39 dates for a 3,283 per-game average.

Keep in mind a first-half attendance total of 82,822 was reached in 1996, the same year the franchise produced its overall record of 233,797. That meant nearly 151,000 folks flocked to the park the second half of that year, a number that would easily push the team past this season's goal of 225,000.

The club drew 190,263 last season.

Quotes from a game day employee and a fan...

"I see more people wearing Brewers stuff," said Fremont's Jeff Fahser, a social studies teacher at Weyauwega-Fremont Middle School and in his sixth season as a stadium usher. "More people are excited about these guys possibly playing someday at the major league level. There's a bigger interest. It's the baby Brewers who could someday become the major league Brewers."

Denmark's Ron Grusznski, a 10-game season ticket holder who actually attends between 15 and 20 games a season, has noticed a more intense following in that fans seem interested in what's happening on the field as opposed to stopping by simply for the minor league experience.

"There's a lot more excitement, cheering," said Grusznski, sporting a Rattlers jersey and cap while hunkered down with his wife, Shirley, two rows behind the first base dugout before Tuesday's game with Clinton. "We were to a lot of games last year, and it was dead. Even if they were scoring, nobody was making noise. So it's a lot nicer this way."

Also, I just wanted to highlight this quote from the boss.

"Last year, we had about 75 percent of the people buying tickets actually coming," Zerjav said. "And now we're at 82, 83 percent. And sometimes, we're upwards of 90 percent."

That...as we say in the business...is pretty good.

Go. Read. I'll be back later.