The Milwaukee Brewers have played before boisterous crowds at American Family Field throughout the team’s heart-stopping run to a possible World Series berth for the first time in 44 years.
Fans have been snapping up tickets and packing the ballpark for the National League Division Series battle with the San Diego Padres and now for the NL Championship Series versus the vaunted Los Angeles Dodgers. The Brewers head into Game 4 of the NLCS on Thursday night with a 3-0 series lead within one win of a trip to the World Series for just the second time in franchise history.
But those tickets for possible World Series games in Milwaukee are coming with extremely high price tags, leaving some long-time fans who have supported the team throughout this season and in years past voicing their frustration. Some have taken to social media to express their concerns, claiming that the World Series pricing structure will make it cost-prohibitive for the average fan to attend games.
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Jodi Blawat Wilson has been a 20-game season ticket holder at American Family Field since 2012.
“I knew that World Series tickets would be expensive, but I was not prepared for just how much,” Wilson posted on Facebook.
As a partial season ticket holder, Wilson said she was able to purchase an entire playoff strip of tickets, which included 11 possible games in the NLDS, NLCS and the World Series for a total of just over $2,300 for a single ticket to each home game at American Family Field.
Wilson told Milwaukee Magazine she didn’t have an issue with doling out that amount to see her beloved Brewers in the playoffs. The shock came when she had the opportunity to purchase additional World Series tickets for friends.
She learned that 400 Level tickets in the upper deck started at $937, Club Level at $1,872 and bleachers at $1,322, far and above the average of $209 per-game she paid for the 11-game playoff allotment, including World Series priced at about $315 per ticket.
“I get that it’s the biggest game, but not a lot of fans can afford tickets at those prices,” Wilson wrote on Facebook.
In an interview, Wilson used words such as “insane” and “bonkers” to describe the Brewers ticket prices.
“It sucks, because there is no way an average fan could afford this,” she said. “I’m curious to see who’ll be sitting next to me for these games.”
Major League Baseball provides a framework or price range that teams must work within for postseason rounds, including the World Series. The individual host franchise, such as the Brewers, determines the specific face-value tiers for seats, standing room and season-ticket holder strips based on those guidelines.
Market pricing on resale platforms, such as StubHub, SeatGeek and others, is driven entirely by supply and demand, often climbing well more than face value.
Even with the high prices, tickets for Game 1 and 2 of the World Series were sold out by Thursday morning. A check of SeatGeek Thursday afternoon showed tickets for World Series games at American Family Field going for nearly $2,000 for standing room only and $2,300 for the seats in the upper reaches of the ballpark.
“Demand for postseason tickets has been extraordinarily high, and the inventory of seats for individual purchase for possible World Series games at American Family Field will be extremely limited,” Brewers President of Business Operations Rick Schlesinger said in a statement. “With interest in postseason baseball at an all-time high, fans should strongly consider securing a 2027 season seat plan, which provides the best opportunity to access tickets for future postseason and World Series games.”
Lucas Zwiefel, a Tomah resident, attended a few regular-season games at American Family Field during this historic season, in which the Brewers won a franchise-record 103 games, and was in the stands at American Family Field for Game 1 of the NLDS and has tickets for Game 7, if necessary, of the NLCS. He had hoped to attend a World Series game until he took a look at the ticket prices.
“They’re pretty outrageous when you’re talking over $800 for standing room and $1,200 for nosebleeds,” Zwiefel said in an interview. “I know it’s a fine line with the Brewers trying to get what they can out of the tickets, but the prices aren’t in line with what other places are charging; it’s pricing the general fan out of the games and going to people with wealth.”
Determined not to be left out of the World Series action, Zwiefel, 42, shifted gears and he and friend booked a trip to Tampa, betting that the Brewers would meet the Tampa Bay Rays for the title (Tampa Bay and the Cleveland Guardians are squaring off in the American League Championship Series).
“After looking at all the different ticket prices, I figured the cheapest I was going to get to a (World Series) game in Milwaukee is $1,200 for nosebleed seats because I’m not going to buy standing-room only,” Zwiefel said.
Zwiefel and his friend eventually booked a flight to Tampa from La Crosse Regional Airport for about $250 each and secured a condo through Vrbo for about $400, rented a car, paid for parking and bought World Series tickets for Games 4 and 5 at Tropicana Field in Tampa.
“It all came out to about $1,600 apiece,” Zwiefel explained. “We get two World Series games and a Florida vacation for slightly more than we would have paid for one ticket in Milwaukee, we’re obviously taking a risk, we know that. The worst thing would be if the Dodgers played the Rays, then we’d be stuck with those tickets, but if it’s the (Cleveland) Guardians, those tickets are refunded; at that point, I guess we’d just have a vacation in Tampa.”
Either way, Zwiefel is convinced the Brewers dream season will continue.
“We’ve got all the momentum,” he said.
