A ticket holder's dilemma: Attend the Brewers' playoff game or the Bucks' home opener?
Friday night presents a dilemma for sports fan John Millane: He's got season tickets for the Bucks and Brewers on a historic night for both teams.
Does he go to Miller Park to cheer on the Brewers against the Los Angeles Dodgers in a do-or-die Game 6 in the National League Championship Series?
Or does he head downtown to celebrate the Milwaukee Bucks' first home opener at their new $524 million home, Fiserv Forum?
"I'm all screwed up between the Brewers and the Bucks," said Millane, 64, of South Milwaukee.
"We've been flip-flopping between the games. Right now, I'm still in baseball mode."
Catching both events isn't an option. Tipoff for the Bucks game against the Indiana Pacers is 7:30 p.m. First pitch at Miller Park is nine minutes later.
The Brewers game is sold out. Tickets on resale sites are under $100 for standing room, in the low $100s for terrace seats and in the $200s for the loge.
The Bucks.com site shows a lot of tickets available. The cheapest seat is about $40 in a second-level corner.
Ardent fans of both teams realize the relative importance of the games being played Friday night.
It's crunch time for the Brewers. If they lose, their season is over. If they win Friday and again Saturday, they're off to the World Series for the first time since 1982.
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It's a different story at Fiserv Forum, which was constructed to ensure that Milwaukee remains an NBA town. The game isn't as important as the event and the optimism that's building around the team.
The home opener is the culmination of a four-year journey for the Bucks' new ownership team.
The grand opening of Fiserv Forum was Aug. 26 and the arena has hosted a slew of preseason games and concerts, including a remarkable run of shows this week that includes Metallica, Foo Fighters, the Eagles and Twenty One Pilots.
Now it's time for basketball.
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The Bucks will celebrate with a block party and a glitzy pregame celebration with luminaries such as Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. NBA Commissioner Adam Silver, the team owners and a who's who of high profile fans are sure to be in the house.
Brewers fans choosing to mark history with the Bucks won't be left out.
The Bucks will show the Brewers game on the enormous television in the outdoor beer garden just east of the Fiserv Forum main entrance. And many of the 800 televisions inside the arena will be tuned to the baseball game.
The Bucks don't feel like they're competing with the crosstown team, President Peter Feigin said.
"It's great and it's going to be a lot of fun," he said. "If the Brewers win, the crowd will be 10 times more electric."
Both events bring welcome attention to Milwaukee, Millane said.
"This night is really putting us on the map," he said. "Actually, we've been on the map but not to this extent."
"There's so much excitement with the new place — everybody wants to see it," said Randy Romanoski, owner of two Sheboygan auto dealerships. He's got full season-ticket packages for both teams that he uses for employees and as donations to charity raffles and fundraisers.
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"The only thing better than one huge event is two huge events," Feigin said.
Regardless of the outcomes, it's a night that Milwaukee sports fans will always remember.
If you go
Milwaukee Brewers vs Los Angeles Dodgers, 7:39 p.m. at Miller Park. Radio: AM 620. TV: FS1. Sold out.
Milwaukee Bucks versus Indiana Pacers, 7:30 p.m at Fiserv Forum. Radio: FM 94.5. TV: FSWis. Tickets at Bucks.com.