This post was last updated on November 1st, 2026 at 11:51 am
The Milwaukee Brewers have won their first World Series championship, and you might guess that fans are spending a lot of money to capture this moment. But our family is proof you didn’t have to empty your pocketbook during this amazing playoff run. You could celebrate the victory without buying much more than gas to watch a parade alongside 750,000 other fans.
When your favorite team is in the midst of a historic playoff run, it’s tempting to blow a bunch of money because your emotions are so high. But I tried to keep a level head and ask myself: How much is participating in this experience actually worth? My wife and I did buy tickets to a National League Championship Series game, agreeing to spend several hundred dollars. We determined seeing the Brewers beat the Dodgers in Milwaukee (and avenging last year’s defeat) would be worth the money. However, we bought Game 6 tickets, and the game never happened because the series ended in a four-game sweep. Well, at least we will be receiving a refund.
World Series tickets could not be justified
Next up was the World Series. This became a new calculation, though an easy call. Our family gave a thumbs down to spending several thousand dollars on World Series tickets. (Interestingly, the cheapest way to attend the World Series may have been to travel to Tampa Bay, where tickets were reportedly going for about half the Milwaukee price.) The gap proved too large between the value of experiencing a World Series at the stadium for thousands of dollars versus experiencing the World Series at home for $0. For us, there was no justifying the expense.
Apparel is another big money drain
Besides World Series tickets, apparel was the other potential money drain. It’s shocking to see official World Championship t-shirts selling for as much as $60, though fandom culture explains why the team is able to charge so much. Just look at the crows attending the games: Virtually everyone is wearing some type of team apparel or accessory.
The apparel landscape is a far cry from 1982, the only other time the Brewers went to the World Series. Take a look at the screenshot (below) of the crowd at a Brewers home game against the Cardinals. Now compare that screenshot with the screenshot of the home crowd at a 2026 World Series game. There is some blue and gold at the 1982 game, but it’s more like a sea of plain, brown clothing. At the 2026 game, nearly everyone is wearing some type of Brewer apparel.
What mattered most in 1982 was fan loyalty, not visual proof of that loyalty. To be a fan back then didn’t require buying a bunch of apparel.
It’s still not a requirement, but wearing team apparel has become the cultural norm. Not only that, wearing the team’s latest apparel is the norm. For this World Series, I pulled out from our closest four Brewer shirts that I bought on clearance in February from Brewers website. Why were they marked down so much? Probably because they were “old” designs, meaning they were several months old.
I’m as big of a Brewer fan as anyone I know. But I’m measuring loyalty not in terms of how much money one spends but in real interest, both for the team and the game of baseball. Diehard fans become lost in the crowd (literally) whenever a team mounts a championship run.
True fan devotion is best measured during down years
The best demonstration of loyalty is a fan’s devotion to a team when that team stinks. With the Brewers, there have been plenty of loyalty tests over the years. Loyal fans like me still gripe when they stink, but we still closely follow the games. This type of loyalty isn’t necessarily profitable for teams. Indeed, if spending money were the primary loyalty metric, I’d probably be considered disloyal.
For one thing, I take in most Brewer games via radio broadcasts—completely free (though I did buy a one-month subscription to FoxOne to watch the postseason.) I rarely buy new apparel unless it’s on clearance. Most of my apparel are thrift store finds, including my 1990s Paul Molitor t-shirt and 1982 Brewers pin.
Another money pit to avoid: upgrades
Another sign of my “disloyalty” is that I avoid the upgrades. Teams are constantly trying to figure out how to push fans toward spending more money than they originally intended. For example, with this Brewers parade, you could attend for free. But then you could buy tickets to attend an exclusive event at a downtown site, where the Brewer players would meet at the end of the parade.
We opted for just the parade, and it was worth it. In fact, we didn’t even buy food at this event because we packed a lunch. We didn’t buy parking, either, because we parked in a residential area more than one mile from the parade route. We walked to the site (very frugalmatic with the bonus exercise). Along the streets were plenty of opportunities to buy Brewers clothing. We of course bypassed those stands.
And we got more than our $0 worth because we were lucky enough to be stationed on a part of the parade route where the players emerged from their buses to high-five fans. Our son managed to wiggle his way up to the parade barricade and slap hands with several players, including Christian Yelich. There’s no price tag you could put on that experience. It’ll be a memory that he hopefully holds forever.
I will buy the World Series t-shirt (on clearance)
Ultimately, I will probably buy our two kids World Series shirts, but it won’t be a spur-of-the-moment purchase. It will happen when the excitement wanes, perhaps when stores start trying to unload their excess inventory and offering it 50% off.