Brewers sell a record number of tickets so far

MILWAUKEE (AP) -- The Milwaukee Brewers have set a new franchise record for the number of tickets sold this early.

As of 3 p.m. Saturday, they had sold nearly 1.59 million tickets for the 2012 season. That's the most tickets sold through the day when they start selling individual game tickets, which this year was Saturday.

The previous record was set in 2009 with nearly 1.56 being sold. Single-game sales that year started Feb. 29.

The totals include season seat, group and individual ticket sales.

The Brewers sold more than 101,000 tickets Saturday for single games in 2012. That marks the second-highest total for the first day of single-game ticket sales.

Brewers chief operating officer Rick Schlesingersays the return of Ryan Braun likely helped ticket sales.