Why are there so many Cubs fans in Wisconsin? Blame WGN, the Braves move and Cubs' history

Appleton Post-Crescent

Bryon, Halie, and Tara Johnson (from left) of Janesville have a split family when it comes to their baseball allegiance. Bryon cannot give up the Cubbie blue, as he says he has been a Cubs fan since childhood.

MILWAUKEE - Remember the guy who played that annoying "Caddyshack" groundskeeper? Bill Murray is a Chicago Cubs fan.

That guy who stole your parking spot this morning? Cubs fan.

The guy three seats down from you who obnoxiously sang "Take Me Out To The Ball Game" during the 7th-inning stretch at the Brewers game? Yep, definitely a Cubs fan.

You get it by now. There are more than a few Brewers fans who are fed up with Cubs fans and their omnipresence even in the heart of Brewers Country.

Mike Arrichiello of Milwaukee sports a Cubs jersey outside Miller Park during a tailgate. Coming from a generation of Cubs fans, Arrichiello doesn't feel shame wearing the pinstripes. "I know the majority of Cubs fans will be inside" Arrichiello said.

And ever since Miller Park opened in 2001, Cubs fans have continued frustrating Brewers fans.

The hordes of Cubs fans dressed in royal blue, red and white who will invade Miller Park and its concrete paradise of a parking lot during the Brewers' final home series against Chicago from Sept. 3 to 5 have become a problem for Brewers fans. They are loud, proud, make their presence known and aren't afraid to poke fun at Brewers fans.

Many make the 90-minute trek from Chicago, and some from even further away. However, a vast majority of these Cubs fans — much to Brewers fans' chagrin — are cheeseheads.

The question loyal Brewers fans continue to ask is: Why would a native Wisconsinite root against Wisconsin's own Major League Baseball team? The reasons have to do with history, broadcast rights and the gravitational pull of the Windy City's oldest sports franchise.

Theory No. 1: Losing the Braves led Wisconsinites to adopt the Cubs
The Brewers are one of the MLB's youngest franchises, first moving to Milwaukee in 1970 after getting their start in Seattle as the Pilots in 1969.
You might remember the Milwaukee Braves, however, who made the move from Milwaukee to Atlanta in 1966.
Jessie Garcia, a longtime WTMJ-TV sportscaster and current journalism professor at UW-Milwaukee, believes this might explain why some Wisconsinites began to follow the Cubs.
When the Braves left Wisconsin, Garcia said, "the closest team then was the Cubs geographically — the White Sox too, but they were just a bit further on the south side."
Theory No. 2: For years, it was easier to see the Cubs on TV than the Brewers
To add to the Cubs' popularity in Wisconsin, baseball fans for a long time were limited to Cubs broadcasts on WGN. It took years for TV stations in Wisconsin to pick up the Brewers, which Fox Sports Wisconsin exclusively handles now.
Eric Sorensen, a 43-year-old Pulaski resident, said he first become a Cubs fan at the age of nine in 1984, just two years after the Brewers made their 1982 World Series run.
Why didn't he jump on the Brewers bandwagon? Like many other Wisconsinites, Sorensen grew up in a time when the only baseball games on television in the area were Cubs games. As he grew older, his family got cable, meaning he could tune into every game on WGN — keeping him a Cubs fan for life, he said.
Garcia, too, echoed the view that WGN was attractive for Wisconsinites who loved the game and were looking for a team to root for.
Theory No. 3: Miller Park is pretty gosh-darn nice, so why not make the drive?
After Miller Park opened in 2001, games had virtually no chance to be rained out and tickets were much cheaper than at Wrigley Field.
Emily Borkenhagen, a 23-year-old Green Bay transplant who grew up in a Chicago suburb, said one of the main reasons she thinks Cubs fans in Wisconsin and Illinois continue to go to Miller Park is because of the ticket prices.
According to a Statista.com article, the Cubs have the highest average total ticket price for the 2018 season at over $58 a ticket. Meanwhile, the Brewers have some of the cheapest tickets at an average $26, putting them in 22nd.
But the cheaper ticket prices still can't pry Borkenhagen away from her beloved Wrigley Field, as she said she still prefers the Wrigley bleachers.
Miller Park has become quite the hot spot for Cubs fans though over the years, Garcia said. Something that wasn't true with County Stadium.
"It seems like after Miller Park was built, Cubs fans became interested in coming up to Milwaukee," she said. "Maybe I just don't remember them as strongly from County Stadium, but it just never struck me that they considered County Stadium as 'Wrigley Field North.'"

A sportscaster's view

Garcia has covered Brewers/Cubs series' for many years — 23 to be exact.

Not only was she covering the Brewers during their 2008 win over the Cubs at Miller Park that punched their ticket to the playoffs for the first time since 1982, but she also was a media member when the team still played at County Stadium and has watched Cubs fans fill up Miller Park, series after series, since 2001.

Garcia said over the years, no matter the circumstances, it always seems like Cubs fans will find a way to fill up Miller Park and be loud. Most games at Miller Park, the split between the two fan bases is 50/50 or even sometimes in the Cubs' favor, she said.

"Whenever the Cubs did something well on the field, you always heard this giant roar, which seemed pretty equivalent to the roar that you get when the Brewers were on the field," she said.

Garcia said something else that always stood out to her was the amount of Chicago media that would make the trip to Milwaukee.

"I can remember a Brewers/Cubs series in the mid '90s sometime, and what stands out to me from that series is actually the amount of Chicago media that was up here," she said. "I know there were a lot of fans too, but I can remember ... for every one Milwaukee reporter there were probably 10 Chicago reporters."

Dick and Lu Schmidt of Appleton pose during a tailgate before the Brewers faced the Cubs. The Schmidt's have gone to spring training in Arizona for 32 years. "I was a Cub fan long before the Braves moved here in '53" Dick Schmidt said.

With websites such as Stubhub and SeatGeek giving ticket-holders a platform to sell on, it is virtually impossible to keep Cub fans at bay.

"It's hard in an era of Stub Hub and every other ticket outlet to control something like that," Garcia said. "Cubs fans are going to get tickets if they want to get tickets."

So what's it like being a Cubs fan in Wisconsin?

Cubs fans are all over the state, from Milwaukee to the Northwoods — and they're rather proud of that, too.

But for Sorensen, being a Cubs fan in Wisconsin hasn't always been a smooth ride.

He said he had to suffer through plenty of years without good teams and years where they famously choked opportunities away — does the name Steve Bartman ring a bell?

However, since the Cubs World Series in 2016 — their first since 1908 — things have turned around for fans around Wisconsin, Sorensen said.

"Since we won the World Series, Brewers fans have been pretty quiet until this year, now that they have a good team," he said.

Sorensen, like most other Cubs fans across the state, isn't afraid to show off his team pride

He said he hangs a Cubs "W" flag on the flagpole in his backyard after every win. Sorensen also bet his language arts students at Bay Port High School that if the Cubs ever won the World Series, he would get a tattoo.

He followed through with the bet and now rocks a number of Cubs-related illustrations on his right arm. One of which is a picture of a goat to commemorate the famous "curse of the Billy goat."

Sorensen isn't alone when it comes to showing off his Cubs fandom in the Dairy State.

Jacob Sommers, a 24-year-old who grew up in Appleton and recently moved to Austin, Texas, said growing up a Cubs fan in Wisconsin was an amazing experience for him, especially because of the friendly rivalry between the fanbases.

"The relationship between the Cubs and Brewers fans is the best and one of the best rivalries in baseball," Sommers said. "When the Cubs won the World Series, I had so many family and friends who are Brewers fans contact me and say they were extremely happy for me."

Sommers became a Cubs fan around the age of 12 after he joined his first baseball team and was told by his uncle to choose No. 14, the number that Cubs great Ernie Banks wore. Sommers then became fascinated by Banks, the Cubs franchise and Wrigley Field.

By the time Sommers reached high school, his love for the Cubs had reached a new level. He even decided against going to his senior prom to instead attend a Brewers/Cubs game behind home plate at Miller Park.

The environment during a series between the two teams at Miller Park, Sommers said, is second to none.

"When it comes to the atmosphere and experience at Miller Park during a Cubs/Brewers game, you almost feel as if you're at Wrigley," he said. "The stadium is overwhelmed with red and blue, and there is definitely more Cubs fans than Brewers fans there. It's wild."

Father and daughter Mike and Kelsey Howard of Blanchardville tailgate before a Cubs vs Brewers game. Mike Howard described the Chicago-Milwaukee matchup as a "friendly rivalry"

For Borkenhagen, on the other hand, things have been a little different as she moved to Wisconsin later in life. She said transitioning to life as a Cubs fan in Wisconsin hasn't been too challenging.

"Being a Cubs fan in Wisconsin isn’t too bad ... it doesn’t usually fit well with what people like up here, but I manage," she said.

Justin Hrdlick, 28, of Appleton, said being able to brag about the 2016 World Series to Brewers fans at Miller Park has made his experience as a Cubs fan in Wisconsin great.

"We are proud that the Cubs can get a bigger draw at Miller Park than the Brewers," he said. "Winning or losing, we back our team and the fact that the cubs can have an extra 12 'home games' a year is just icing on the cake."

'We'll take (Cubs fans') money, I don't care.'

For a lot of Brewers fans, there's nothing worse than hearing Cubs fans bring up the 2016 World Series. But some really could care less.

"I feel a little bit different about Cubs fans coming into our stadium," Troy Pflum, 51, of Mount Horeb, said while laughing. "We'll take their money, I don't care."

"Yes it's better when we send them home sad, but if they want to come up here and spend their money, that's fine," he said.

Others say Cubs fan in Wisconsin are more than welcome because it makes for a fun rivalry.

Michael Bichanich, 34, a native of Muskego, said he loves the playful but harmless atmosphere Cubs fans bring to Miller Park.

"Yeah, you'll get the knuckleheads and the people yelling junk back and forth," he said. "But for the most part it's exciting to be a part of it."

"For me now, it's not the same feeling of animosity towards these people coming to the games," Bichanich said. "Because really all it is doing is just generating more excitement and making it into more of a rivalry."