The Milwaukee Brewers are having a rough go of it this season.
The team is in the basement of the NL Central and is dealing with one of the biggest performance-enhancing drug scandals in recent years. Outfielder Ryan Braun is serving a 65-game suspension from Major League Baseball for violating the league’s Joint Drug Prevention and Treatment Program after initially lying to his teammates, fans and everyone in between in 2011.
The Brewers, it seems, felt an obligation to “give back” to their fans in some way this year, so they are offering $10 vouchers to any fan who goes through the turnstiles at Miller Park for a home game in the month of August, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports.
“This has been a challenging season for all of us, but the one thing that has never wavered has been the tremendous support we have received from fans who love the Brewers,” Brewers principal owner Mark Attanasio said. “We wanted to do something meaningful to show our appreciation, and we will strive to provide the best fan experience possible.”
The vouchers can be used on anything in the park including food, beverage, merchandise and tickets sold at nearly every outlet in the park.
And there aren’t many limitations in the fine print, either. Â Vouchers can also be combined and used at any remaining 2013 home game and can also be used toward the purchase of game tickets this season, the Journal Sentinel reports.
The Brewers expect to distribute more than $3.6 million worth of vouchers based on an average attendance of 30,000 per game in August. Curiously enough, Braun is forfeiting about $3.1 million in pay while suspended. It seems that the Brewers may be “paying it forward” in a way.
“We just wanted to do something to acknowledge this has been a very difficult year for fans and also everybody in the front office,” added COO Rick Schlesinger. “We had been talking for several weeks about reaching out to the fans and after the Braun situation those talks accelerated and intensified.
“We thought it was important to do something. It was Mark’s concept, and we are implementing it. It’s a recognition by the organization that we feel the fans’ pain. We all had high expectations for this year which haven’t been met, due to a whole range of things.”
