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Milwaukee Bucks and fans celebrate home opener at Fiserv Forum

Posted at 6:10 PM, Oct 19, 2018
and last updated 2018-10-19 19:10:29-04

While the Brewers battle the Dodgers at Miller Park Friday night, the Bucks are playing their season home opener at the new, state of the art Fiserv Forum.

"We've been so excited to open this, and everybody's got this extra level of excitement about getting started in our new home," said Milwaukee Bucks and Fiserv Forum President, Peter Feigen. "We've been on a long journey to get basketball here."

But Feigen is making sure there will be plenty of televisions showing the Brewer's game at Fiserv Forum tonight. 

"It's a great night for Wisconsin sports," he said. 

"I'll probably stream it live on my cell phone while I'm at the Bucks game," said Amanda Larson. "The Bucks have my heart a little bit more than the Brewers. Fiserv Forum is a beautiful arena. It will be exciting to see fans fill it up tonight."

Bars and restaurants nearby are also expected to fill-up. 

"We're going to be fully-staffed tonight," said Kenneth McNulty, owner of Wisconsin Cheese Mart and Uber Taproom. "Fiserv Forum is already hosting so many more big-name concerts and events than the Bradley Center ever did. It's already helped bring more people downtown to our businesses."

Two people we noticed wandering through downtown, came from enemy territory.

"We're here to cheer on the Dodgers at Miller Park tonight," said Stetson Banks, who traveled here with his brother Hunter. "We wanted to check out the new Bucks arena too. It's beautiful. We might have to come back for a game here. We haven't gotten any boo's yet for wearing our Dodgers hats."

We also found dozens of teenagers setting-up tents outside Fiserv Forum. They're not waiting to see Giannis Antetokounmpo Friday night, but rather the band Twenty One Pilots, Saturday night. 

"Some of us have been sleeping here since Wednesday," said one of the camping super-fans. "It's going to be really cold tonight. But it's worth it. We have general admission tickets to the pit. Waiting here and being first in line, will guarantee we get front row. We only have 24 hours to go."