Early ticket sales 'encouraging' for Angels-Indians series

If I lived in the vicinity of Milwaukee, I would have loved to attend all three games for $10 a pop. It also doesn't hurt to have two potential division winners squaring off against each other.

By DINESH RAMDE, Associated Press Writer
April 9, 2007

MILWAUKEE (AP) -- Get ready for the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim against the Cleveland Indians of Milwaukee.

Hours after officials at Miller Park agreed to let the snowed-out Indians host the Angels at the Milwaukee Brewers' home stadium, fan interest was "encouraging" and ticket sales outpaced tempered expectations.

Brewers spokesman Tyler Barnes said nearly 10,000 tickets total were sold for all three games of the series within the first four hours of availability.

"We still don't have any idea of what to expect but so far we're encouraged," Barnes said Monday afternoon.

About 4,000 tickets were sold for each night game -- 7:05 p.m. EDT starts on Tuesday and Wednesday -- and about 2,000 tickets for Thursday's game scheduled for 1:05 p.m. EDT, Barnes said.

Chris Williams, a Cleveland native who studies finance at Milwaukee's Marquette University, said he felt lucky to have the Indians coming to town.

"I think it'll be really interesting," said Williams, 21, as he headed to Miller Park to buy tickets for Tuesday's game. "Any time I'm able to support my team, I always try to take advantage of it."
Tickets for all games and seats will be $10 each. The 9,000 field-level seats will be sold first and loge seats will be available if necessary.

A storm in Cleveland left several inches of snow on the Indians' open-air Jacobs Field.

As the news of the Miller Park series trickled out, local fans seemed intrigued by the idea of watching an Angels-Indians matchup on the Brewers' home turf.

Robin Meyer, a 21-year-old business major at Marquette, said he planned to attend at least one game.

"I'm just a fan of the sport," he said. "I'll be going for the fun of it, for the fun of baseball."

The Brewers went from the American League to the National League in 1998. The last AL game in Milwaukee was the Baltimore Orioles' 7-6 victory over the Brewers on Sept. 28, 1997, at County Stadium.

Michael Constantine, a University of Wisconsin-Madison student and passionate Brewers fan, planned to attend Wednesday's game.

"Being able to get tickets right behind home plate or right behind the dugout for $10, that's a unique opportunity," the 21-year-old Racine native said. "It's like getting courtside seats at a basketball game for $10."

It was unclear how revenue from the games would be distributed but Rick Schlesinger, the Brewers' executive vice president of business operations, said he was more concerned with getting the park's operations in order on short notice.

"Let's not worry about cost or the revenue aspect -- we'll figure that out after the fact," he said Monday. "At the end of the day we'll do what's appropriate."

Constantine said he'll root for a good game and low attendance.

"When I first heard about the series, my first thought was, 'Ooh, I'll be able to get a foul ball now,"' he said.

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Updated on Monday, Apr 9, 2007 11:03 pm EDT