MILWAUKEE - Simply by looking at the figures, one would think the Milwaukee Brewers should be very concerned about their home attendance. Instead, the club's bosses fall back on the early-season attendance history of the club and simply call April and May a mulligan.
''These numbers are not out of line with the 30-year history of the Milwaukee Brewers,'' said Bob Voight, the club's vice president for ticket sales. ''We understand this market and traditionally it's slow between opening day and mid-June.''
Slow? Glaciers have moved more quickly than people through the turnstiles at County Stadium this season. Through 30 home dates, the Brewers have drawn 463,724 fans, an average of 15,457 a game. That average places the Brewers 27th among the 30 major-league clubs, with only Minnesota (11,394), Montreal (14,163) and Florida (15,118) lagging behind.
And those three teams are embroiled in ugly battles over the funding of new ball parks, contributing to fan disinterest. Of course, the Brewers thought they'd be in their new ballpark this season, ending sad attendance figures in April and May.
But the opening of Miller Park was delayed a year by the crane accident last summer, saddling the club with another season in dreary, outdated County Stadium. Instead of watching season ticket sales rise with the move to a new facility, the Brewers saw them slide from 10,500 to 9,500.
At present, the club has sold approximately 1.3 million tickets for the 2000 season. The average attendance in the major leagues this season is more than 27,000 a game, leaving the Brewers far behind the norm. Yet, with 50 dates remaining on the home schedule (one was lost to rain), Voight and club president Wendy Selig-Prieb say they have not abandoned their pre-season goal of 2 million fans.
''We're still very much bullish on doing that,'' said Selig-Prieb. ''In addition to having a very good schedule the rest of the way, the last home stand at County Stadium has a lot of promotions and events associated with it.
''I think people will want to come to have that one last memory and have one last opportunity to see a game at County Stadium.''
No matter how weepy people get over the old ballpark, the Brewers face a daunting task to even approach their attendance goal. To draw 2 million, the Brewers need to bring in 1,536,276 over the final 50 home dates, an average of 30,725 a game.
Only one crowd has exceeded that figure this season - the 53,509 who showed up for the final home opener at County Stadium. Just to match the substandard attendance total of 1,701,790 of 1999, the Brewers would have to average 24,761 the rest of the way, a 60 percent increase over the current rate.
What makes the Brewers think they can double their cur rent attendance average over the final 50 home dates?
''The best dates and the best home series are still ahead of us,'' said Voight. ''We still have Sammy Sosa and the Cubs, Mark McGwire and the Cardinals and Ken Griffey Jr. and the Reds coming here twice.
''And we still have visits from Mike Piazza and the Mets, Vladimir Guerrero and the Expos, Todd Helton and the Rockies and Barry Bonds and the Giants. That's 30 games against some of the premier players in the world today. And that doesn't even count the attraction of the final year at County Stadium. That's eventually going to kick in.
''I can't tell you when, but eventually it will kick in and fans will come out here in big numbers to say goodbye to County Stadium.''
The rainy, cold weather in April and May certainly did not help the club attract fans - a problem that will go away next year with the Miller Park retractable roof. But another factor that cannot be discounted is the Brewers' poor performance on the field.
At present, they have lived up - or down - to pre-season prognostications of being one of the worst teams in the majors. The Brewers are 13 games below .500 (23-36), the N.L.'s third-worst record and fifth-worst in the majors.
Clubs with pizzazz and drawing power - such as the Cubs with Sosa and Kerry Wood - can overcome poor play at the gate, but the Brewers can't.
Should the Brewers continue to swoon, management will be left with two primary ways to draw people to the ball park - the lure of opposing stars such as Sosa, McGwire and Griffey and the promotions connected to the final season of County Stadium.
One thing the Brewers already know: The final game will be a sellout. Between now and then, they're keeping their fingers crossed.
Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service.
