Rumor mills brew on Brewers’ relocation plans

Article posted by Coliseum, August 22^nd, 2023

Image: Miller Park, Grassferry49, CC BY-SA 3.0

The Major League Baseball (MLB) team Milwaukee Brewers are absolutely adored in the State of Wisconsin (US). It is hard to imagine that they are currently at the center of many relocation rumors.

‘WISCONSIN SPORTS HEROICS’ stated that according to multiple reports, the Milwaukee Brewers are “contemplating” whether to relocate amid negotiations for taxpayer-funded renovations to their digs – the American Family Field in Milwaukee, Wisconsin (US).

The Milwaukee Brewers are an American professional baseball team based in Milwaukee, US. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League Central division. The Brewers are named for the City’s association with the brewing industry.

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The 41,900-capacity American Family Field is a retractable roof stadium in Milwaukee, Wisconsin (US). Located Southwest of the intersection of Interstate 94 and the Brewers Boulevard, it is the home ballpark of Major League Baseball’s Milwaukee Brewers. It opened in 2001 as a replacement for the now demolished 53,192-capacity Milwaukee County Stadium in Milwaukee, US.

‘WISCONSIN SPORTS HEROICS’ further quoted a source familiar with negotiations as stating, “The Brewers genuinely want to stay, it is only a question of whether they’ll be able to with the (stadium) district broke.”

The Brewers have outlined $448 million in renovations needed at the American Family Field, a publicly-owned stadium, that are required to maintain the terms of the team’s lease with the State’s Southeast Wisconsin Professional Baseball Park District (district Government office in Milwaukee, Wisconsin) which are responsible for making the repairs.

The Brewers’ lease runs through the end of 2030, but the club has been pushing for immediate improvements to the ballpark. Without a funding deal, the stadium district might not have enough money to fund the improvements.

The Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers proposed a $290 billion spending package earlier in the year as part of a deal that would get the Brewers to sign an extension keeping them in Milwaukee through 2043. When combined with interest and the $70MM that the district already has on hand, this would have eventually led to $448MM in spending. That deal was scrapped by the Republican lawmakers, who control the legislature.

It has also been mentioned that the lawmakers have considered softening their stance on giving no funding but the details of what they are proposing is not known yet.

It is also not known yet if this is a real threat or just a threat meant to drum up fear and money. Teams often use relocation threats as a way to get what they want financially. The MLB team Oakland ‘A’s’ are another team going through something similar now, although their relocation threats are much more real and they appear intent on moving to Las Vegas.

To add fuel to the fire, the Major League Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred visited Milwaukee in May and cited that the Oakland Athletics, who are in the process of moving to Las Vegas, as a cautionary tale for the Brewers. He said that the Oakland Government officials “made some unfortunate decisions not to maintain the ballpark in the way that it needed to be maintained” and stressed the importance of officials getting a deal in place for the Brewers.

New York (US)-based the Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization. One of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Canada, the MLB comprises 30 teams, divided equally between the National League and the American League, with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada.

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