When the Milwaukee Bucks won Game 6 of the 2021 NBA Finals, securing the franchise’s first NBA title in 50 years, 17,397 fans were inside Milwaukee’s Fiserv Forum to witness the historic event. Outside the arena, in a space dubbed the ‘Deer District,’ another 65,000 fans gathered to share in the moment, many of whom flew into MKE Airport, just 10 miles (16km) from the event.
The Fiserv Forum is about a 15-minute drive from Milwaukee Mitchell International Airport. Photo: Getty Images.
The legacy of Milwaukee’s win
The images of this sea of people celebrating together, creating an atmosphere on par with the best experiences North American professional sports have to offer, will be one of the lasting legacies of Milwaukee’s win. However, that sea of people was just the tiniest tip of the global iceberg the NBA has become.
Videos posted to the NBA’s official social media channels were viewed 1.24 billion times throughout that six-game series. Global TV viewership of the finals was up 19 percent, year over year, continuing an upward rise that has propelled basketball into a spot as one of the most popular global sports – and certainly, the most globally popular of the sports played in the United States’ Big 4 leagues.
To help fuel that international growth, the NBA now operates 13 global offices in 12 countries worldwide and has committed to growing the support globally through its Basketball without Borders program. The innovative program has brought the NBA brand to thousands of kids through camps in 27 different countries to date.
Wisconsin isn’t just NBA or baseball – it is also golf. The state is America’s top golf-caction destination. Photo: Getty Images.
The team’s international appeal has soared
Back in Milwaukee, Dustin Godsey, the Chief Marketing Officer for the Bucks, has seen the team’s international appeal soar, the culmination of years of work to construct a more global brand.
“While certainly having a European-born MVP in Giannis Antetokounmpo and an NBA championship run has helped, the Bucks organization has focused on becoming a global brand for a number of years,” Godsey notes.
“We’ve played in front of sold-out crowds in London and Paris, we’re now creating in-language content to speak to audiences around the globe, and we’re utilizing the NBA’s global footprint to help put Milwaukee on an international stage.”
Godsey also points out that over 75 percent of Bucks fans on Facebook and over 80 percent of the team’s Instagram followers reside outside the United States. The team also has nearly six million followers just in China on the Weibo app, a social media platform similar to Twitter. In terms of merchandise, the team has sold and shipped gear to every continent in the world except Antarctica.
Milwaukee: the epicenter of the sporting world
Giannis, as he’s simply known in Milwaukee and increasingly around the world, earned his affectionate nickname, the ‘Greek Freak,’ for a reason. Watching him soar down the lane for a thundering dunk, pick up his dribble near half-court yet still make it to the rim in two galloping strides, or appear from seemingly nowhere to block an opponent’s shot, has a way of speaking to fans in a way that transcends language or culture.
There was a time, of course, when it felt the Giannis experience was uniquely Milwaukee’s. When the baby-faced, 18-year-old native of Greece and son of Nigerian immigrants arrived in town following the 2013 NBA Draft, his precocious talents and untapped potential felt like the City’s little secret.
Now, Giannis is one of the most recognizable and marketable athletes on the planet – his #34 jersey is the third-most-popular in terms of global sales behind only LeBron James and Stephen Curry – and Milwaukee suddenly feels like the epicenter of the sporting universe.
But while selling jerseys and picking up Twitter followers abroad is great, opening Milwaukee’s doors to the global sporting community is even better. As Godsey said:
I don’t have an exact number for the percentage of our fans coming in from out of the market, but I can say that during our playoff run this year, we sold tickets in all 50 states.
Giannis Antetokounmpo has helped put Milwaukee on the sporting map. Photo: Getty Images.
A burgeoning sports tourism experience
While the success of the Bucks on the court has certainly helped open the floodgates, what fans are seeing and experiencing when they visit Milwaukee has the potential to transcend wins and losses.
The City and surrounding region have been slowly constructing some of the most fan-friendly infrastructures in all sports, contributing to a burgeoning sports tourism experience in Milwaukee and Wisconsin that is uniquely local while increasingly global in its appeal and reach.
Take AmFam Field, the home of Major League Baseball’s Milwaukee Brewers, which sits just 12 miles (19km) from Milwaukee Mitchell International Airport on the City’s western edge. The stadium has one of the largest footprints in the league when including surrounding parking and has become the gold standard for the game-day tailgating experience in baseball.
While many other modern ballparks were built to blend in seamlessly with the surrounding urban experience, the Brewers recognized that the tailgating tradition is part of the local culture and set out to create a genuinely unique gameday experience.
“People are friendly in this town,” Brewers President of Business Operations Rick Schlesinger remarked in an interview with the team’s broadcast partner 620 WTMJ. “They like group settings. They like a good place to socialize and feel connected to each other.”
The home of the Milwaukee Brewers is quick and easy to reach from the airport. Photo: Getty Images.
One of the most iconic stadiums in sport
Further north, the NFL’s Green Bay Packers have developed their own unique fan experience. Still less than a two-hour drive from Milwaukee’s airport, Lambeau Field is one of the most iconic stadiums in sports, and a pilgrimage to the frozen tundra has long been on many sports fans’ bucket lists. In recent years, though, the Packers’ Titletown development adjacent to the stadium has become a year-round sports destination.
Featuring unique amenities like skating and snow tubing, NFL combine-style skills challenges and interactive play spaces, world-class shopping, and dining, and so much more – not to mention one of the most unique and memorable gameday experiences in sports when the Packers take the field – Titletown, too, is attracting visitors from around the globe.
The airport is less than a two-hour drive from Lambeau Field. Photo: via Milwaukee Mitchell International Airport.
The crown jewel
The crown jewel for the Milwaukee sporting experience is right back in the heart of the City, though. The Deer District, a growing neighborhood surrounding Fiserv Forum just 10 miles (16km) north of the airport, had its unofficial coming-out party during the team’s recent run to the title.
Built on over 30 acres of land, the space features over 150 events a year, from farmers markets to holiday light displays to outdoor concerts and everything in-between. And for all that the space already is, it’s continuing to grow and evolve.
The Bucks have already broken ground on a new nine-story, 205-room hotel for the site to be called The Trade Milwaukee, part of Marriott’s Autograph Collection. The team also balances bringing in new development with maintaining public green space.
“A hotel is a big deal. It’s a destination,” Bucks President Feigin said recently at a Milwaukee Press Club event. “I talk about density. We want people. You want people there.” He added:
We want to make this a vibrant, incredible place. It’s much bigger than the Deer District. It’s how it connects the east side of the river to the west side of the river to Wisconsin [Avenue]. How do we build a swatch of land that makes great sense, that’s dynamic, and you can navigate in a pedestrian way for events?
Spirit started Milwaukee in June 2021 and has eight routes from the airport. Photo: via Milwaukee Mitchell International Airport.
The gathering place for Milwaukee
As Godsey describes it, “the goal of the Deer District is to become THE gathering place for the city – not only the place where Milwaukee residents get together, for events or a meal but also a magnet for those outside of Milwaukee that serves as a central hub to connect visitors to all the other great things the city has to offer.”
When the schedules align, a true Deer District experience could last from morning until night – beginning with a fitness class on the plaza taught by local instructors, followed by lunch at Good City Brewing – one of Milwaukee’s most celebrated local craft breweries.
If the Brewers happen to be playing a matinée, there is no better place to watch than surrounded by hundreds of new friends at the giant screens inside MECCA Sports Bar and Grill or outside at The Beer Garden, followed by a sampling of Wisconsin-made spirits at Drink Wisconsinbly. The arena often takes center stage at night, especially when Giannis and the Bucks take the court.
However, what sets the space apart is not the commercial elements but rather the communal elements. The openness of the Deer District allows for the types of shared experiences that can be so memorable, with sports often serving as the backdrop to bring fans from diverse backgrounds and diverse locations around the globe together.
Sun Country launched regular Milwaukee flights in August 2021. Photo: via Milwaukee Mitchell International Airport.
Most apparent during the Bucks’ playoff run in 2021
The space swelled with activity throughout the playoffs, growing in size and scope each round and culminating with an estimated 65,000 people on hand for the team’s title-clinching Game 6 win. As Godsey remembers:
Before Game 6, I started talking to a couple who were amongst the first to arrive at Deer District for that night’s game. They weren’t even Bucks fans but had seen the Deer District on TV and decided to drive from Cleveland with their two children just to be a part of the experience.
Three nights earlier, as the Bucks were in Phoenix for Game 5, a similar scenario was unfolding. Even with the team some 1,800 miles away, tens of thousands of fans from near and far descended on the Deer District together. They weren’t so much there for what they would see but what they would experience. They were there to be a part of something unique and something uniquely Milwaukee.
This winter, Milwaukee has 2.8 million seats for sale. Photo: via Milwaukee Mitchell International Airport.
Something uniquely Milwaukee
With the series tied at two games apiece and the Bucks clinging to a one-point lead in the closing seconds, Suns All-Star Devin Booker drove for the potential game-winning basket, only to have the ball ripped away. As play turned the other way, Giannis’ long strides brought him into the frame with the clock winding down.
Common sense said the Bucks would hold the ball, wait for the foul, and win the game at the free-throw line. But Giannis’ physical gifts transcend reason. Like a 747 speeding down a runway, he gathered steam, pointed towards the sky pleading for the pass to come, and took off for the game-sealing alley-oop finish.
JetBlue will begin Milwaukee from JFK and Boston on March 27th. Photo: via Milwaukee Mitchell International Airport.
Bringing Milwaukeeans together
Back home, the throng of fans in the Deer District leaped with him. Many likely still haven’t come down.
That moment of shared experience encapsulates what Godsey, Feigin, and the Bucks have strived to create with the Deer District, just as the Brewers and Packers are doing outside their stadiums. It’s a celebration of how sports can bring Milwaukeeans together, and it’s an experience the City is ready to share with the world.
This post was written and sponsored by Milwaukee Mitchell International Airport.
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About The Author
James Pearson
(640 Articles Published)
Route Development Analyst – James lives and breathes route development. Educated in Air Transport Management at Loughborough and Cranfield, James was Market Opportunity Analyst at London Luton Airport and Chief Analyst at anna.aero. Now writing data-driven analysis for Simple Flying. Based near London, UK.
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