The Milwaukee Milkmen.. a new team? Absolutely! They are a team in the American Association, which is a baseball league. Their first year was in 2019, and they opened up their new stadium in nearby Franklin, Wisconsin to a good showcase of fandom. Over the course of the last year plus, the Milkmen went from essentially expansion team to American Association champion in 2020. The Milkmen have been a cheap and affordable option. I went to see a Milkmen game in 2019 and while they lost, I had a lot of things about their stadium that I feel make it one of the better ballparks in Independent league baseball.
The Milkmen's stadium got completed for them to play in 2019 and since then they have had a lot of great success as well. When they opened, it brought a nice flair, as it is expected to also showcase the UWM team for college baseball as well. It still will host games for the Panthers, despite the 2020 season being cancelled due to COVID. Upon entering the stadium, their parking lot is pretty spacious and well organized so you can get in and out pretty easily overall. Upon going through the gates the one thing noticed is the fan store. It's a nice small thing, which will likely be complete and filled with gear from the championship season for the Milkmen in 2020. The fan store is nicely laid out and honestly has a lot of the same equipment as usual for hats, shirts, hoodies, and so on but at a reasonable price. How is the rest of the stadium?
Well the rest of the stadium is simply great. The seats are appropriately spaced out and and the walk ways are very, very nicely laid out as well. The concourses are accessible, the fan areas and non-seated areas. The park itself is very wide so if needed for expansion it is easily able to happen. They have one main stand for concessions at the time I went to a game. Their staff are pretty quick and efficient at that time which I suspect got better with a season under their belt they got even better, so how are the concessions and food?
The food is about what you would expect with Wisconsin sports, so the burgers, chicken, fries, curds are all staples. They are a pretty affordable price as well when I went so I suspect they would have stayed affordable in 2020 and will do so in the future. Their one staple is the milkshake of ice cream and whichever syrup you choose overall. The ice cream is actually quite okay and of course the syrup is typically Hershey's so it is going to be okay overall. Main thing of this remains though, it is affordable for the people and that is the main thing the Milkmen wanted to give from the outset, an affordable program for families or for the regular fan like myself.
The on-field product changed rapidly from expansion 2019 team to champions in 2020. Even then the product was fun to watch in 2019. The staff didn't have major frills but that is a good thing for the innings promotions. It is actually a really cool thing that they try to involve kids as much as possible so they can bring families back while also providing a party type atmosphere with their beer decks for the older generation. So all in all the fact they can keep every form of demographic happy is what matters and the promotions and between innings entertainment is something that is good as well.
All in all, the Milkmen and their stadium, Franklin Field, do a really nice job when it comes to everything. They did well starting out in 2019, likely did more in 2020 with the ongoing difficulties facing everything in the world. When I went in 2019 everything was amazing and fan friendly with an emphasis on getting young people into the park which is needed for any team. It's affordable and fun to go to a game. I hope the Milkmen have great success going forward in the American Association.
No comments:
Post a Comment