Milwaukee is sure to be roaring with cheers for the Brewers as the World Series kicks off Friday.
The team is headed to the series for the first time since 1982. They’re up against the Tampa Bay Rays.
Fans couldn’t be happier that the city will be on the world stage. And Visit Milwaukee, which promotes tourism to the city, is expecting the World Series to bring lots of business to local hotels, restaurants and more.
"Throughout the summer we’ve been seeing a 10-12% increase in hotel occupancy when the Brewers have a home game," says Josh Albrecht, Visit Milwaukee’s chief marketing officer.
Albrecht says each Brewers home playoff game this season created a financial gain of about $5 million dollars.
He says the city stands to make more from the World Series.
"Pure estimate, we expect the economic impact for every home World Series game to be anywhere between $10 and $15 million. And we think that there’s gonna be a lot of fans coming into the city to be a part of the celebrations."
Albrecht adds that the economic impact goes beyond ticket sales.
"I think a lot of people hear economic sales they think, 'Oh that’s just the ticket sales,' or 'That’s just the in stadium.' But no, we forget, hey if you’re driving to the stadium and you stop at the grocery store and pick up a bag of peanuts, that goes to the economic spend. If you have to fill your gas tank up, that’s part of the economic spend," he says. "Hotel rooms, eating out, all those different things. Getting some merchandise, World Series merchandise here locally. All that adds to that big number that we’re talking about."
Albrecht says you can’t buy advertising like the World Series.
"It’s really a blessing that the Brewers are in there and be able to showcase our city, because it’s gonna give us a whole new level of thinking, and something for us to be proud of too," he says.
The first game of the series is at American Family Field in Milwaukee Friday.
