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Thursday, May 25, 2023

MLB Tells Brewers They Need to Repair American Family Field

Major League Baseball has told the Milwaukee Brewers that they need to repair American Family Field to ensure it remains an MLB-caliber ballpark, “The Dan O’Donnell Show” has learned exclusively. While the league did not give the Brewers an explicit ultimatum, it was made clear that MLB will not allow American Family Field to “deteriorate” as Oakland-Alameda County Stadium (home of the Oakland A’s) has. Last month, the A’s announced a land purchase agreement that will move the team from Oakland to Las Vegas following the 2024 season.

MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred will be in Milwaukee for the Brewers’ game against the San Francisco Giants Thursday as part of a tour of all 30 Major League Baseball stadiums. A source familiar with the discussions who spoke on condition of anonymity said Manfred will further outline the league’s expectations when he meets with Brewers officials.

The Brewers said earlier this year that American Family Field needs an estimated $448 million in repairs. The ballpark, which opened, in 2001 as Miller Park, is owned by the Southeast Wisconsin Professional Baseball Park District, a local unit of government that owns and operates the stadium and leases it to the Brewers. The team’s current lease expires in 2030 with five two-year options that could extend it until 2040.

Under the terms of the lease, the District is responsible for “all Major Capital Repairs” and must keep American Family Field in a condition that “can reasonably be said to fall within the ‘top’ twenty-five percent (25%) of all such facilities, when such facilities are ranked or rated according to the quality with which they are repaired and improved.”

RoyalsRetro (AG#1F) Posted: May 25, 2023 at 04:14 PM | 15 comment(s) Login to Bookmark
  Tags: brewers

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   1. Howie Menckel Posted: May 25, 2023 at 05:04 PM (#6130109)
Under the terms of the lease, the District is responsible for “all Major Capital Repairs” and must keep American Family Field in a condition that “can reasonably be said to fall within the ‘top’ twenty-five percent (25%) of all such facilities

ah, the dreaded "state of the art" clause. the Giants and Jets were able to get some concessions on a new stadium that they built because Giants Stadium was owned by the state and opened before "club seats" and other luxuries were a thing. Giants Stadium was well-designed, and impressive when it opened in the mid-1970s, but it was "state of the art" 30 years later by nobody's definition.

I say "some concessions" because - in a shocking and rare bit of fiscal sanity by public officials - state officials publicly noted that if the teams insisted on moving to another market, haha the joke is on you. This was before LA came off the table, so almost all other teams dangled LA as a threat since it was a bigger market.

ain't bigger than NY/NJ, though.

the teams own the new stadium but not the land, so what they got out of it was reasonable, locked-in rent terms while paying for the stadium themselves (less the $600M or so they claimed combined from the two sets of season ticketholders. imagine the people who use something being the ones who pay for a lot of its construction).
   2. DL from MN Posted: May 25, 2023 at 06:20 PM (#6130115)
Every stadium needs to be above average?
   3. Cris E Posted: May 25, 2023 at 06:33 PM (#6130118)
The Lake Woebegon Whippets would like a word with the Stearns County Athletic Commission.
   4. Cris E Posted: May 25, 2023 at 06:35 PM (#6130120)
Milwaukee's building may be falling down but that lease is still State of the Art.
   5. Walt Davis Posted: May 25, 2023 at 07:10 PM (#6130123)
"all such facilities" would seem to offer plenty of wiggle room unless at some point the "facility" is defined as a "MLB stadium" or similar. "Large outdoor sporting facility" would seem to cover a lot of stadia. Also "top 25%" by what criteria?

Anyway, this seems the first in a pretty standard series of steps:

(1) our reading of the lease says the taxpayers need to give us about half a billion. Some more tax breaks or a special tax district or something would be nice too.

(2) Golly, here we are 4 years later and still the taxpayers have not forked over half a billion. You know, at this point, they should probably just fork over $1.5 billion for a whole new stadium.

(3) Hard to believe it's been 7 years and still no new stadium. Gosh, Oakland, Montreal, Charlotte, San Antonio and (spins wheel) Salt Lake are looking pretty good.

(4) Wow, 10 years and still, just to get your attention, STILL we have to threaten to move to Oakland, Montreal, Charolott, San Antonio, Salt Lake or (spins wheel) Nashville even though none of them have offered to come up with $1.5 billion either.

(5) Finally, $450 M for repairs and the team will kick in $300 M. ... Alas, yes, often (5) hooray, new stadium.
   6. Walt Davis Posted: May 25, 2023 at 07:13 PM (#6130124)
Might I also add that something is seriously wrong with America if Miller is no longer the sponsor for the Brewers and doubly tragic that they have been replaced by something called American Family.
   7. Howie Menckel Posted: May 25, 2023 at 07:29 PM (#6130126)
this seems the first in a pretty standard series of steps:

(1) our reading of the lease says the taxpayers need to give us about half a billion. Some more tax breaks or a special tax district or something would be nice too.

(2) Golly, here we are 4 years later and still the taxpayers have not forked over half a billion. You know, at this point, they should probably just fork over $1.5 billion for a whole new stadium.

this is exactly what the Giants and Jets tried. they extended their lease I think in the early 1990s and added the "state of the art" language precisely because of the imminent new era of the club-seat stadium (lots of $700 per ticket seats whereas Giants Stadium peak tix were not quite $100 - not were different beyond proximity to field so no private premium area behind the section to keep out the riff raff, carving board, designer cocktails, etc.).

The Jets tried a bluff of claiming they would return to Queens, but NJ and then the Giants told them if they didn't commit by a certain date, they were on their own. so they had to come in from the cold.

the initial naming rights deal was going to go to Allianz, which
a) had a lot of unsavory ties to Nazi Germany and
b) many Jets season ticketholders in particular had relatives before them who perished in the German concentration camps.

So MetLife Stadium it is (and the $1.6 billion stadium is as bland as the name).
   8. Tony S Posted: May 25, 2023 at 07:35 PM (#6130128)
American Family is what it's called now? Sorry, I do get behind the curve on the corporate stadium-name carousel...
   9. Brian C Posted: May 25, 2023 at 08:09 PM (#6130134)
So this headline and lede make it sound like MLB is scolding the Brewers for not keeping the stadium in good shape, but of course what's really happening is that MLB is telling the "Southeast Wisconsin Professional Baseball Park District" to fork over the cash. Must be nice to have stenographers in the media to do your dirty work for you, and dress it up as an EXCLUSIVE on top of that, as if MLB and the Brewers were trying to keep this secret somehow before an enterprising journalist blew the lid off the story.

At any rate, our enterprising reporter somehow forgot to say what exactly is "deteriorating" in the park, and though it's been 4-5 years since I've been there, it seems unlikely that the stadium will become unworthy of MLB anytime soon. That said, though, this seems like a lot of nothing - the stadium is almost 25 years old so it makes sense that it would need some work. If the "Park District" is responsible for those costs, then that's that. No big deal, even if Manfred has decided that he needs to be heavy-handed about it.
   10. McCoy Posted: May 25, 2023 at 08:17 PM (#6130136)
Well, the roof leaked from day one so . . .
   11. the Hugh Jorgan returns Posted: May 25, 2023 at 09:15 PM (#6130147)
Miller is no longer the sponsor for the Brewers and doubly tragic that they have been replaced by something called American Family.


Of course since Miller is no longer the sponsor, the name Brewers is no longer relevant thus facilitating a name change for the team, the Milwaukee Cousins.

   12. Starring Bradley Scotchman as RMc Posted: May 25, 2023 at 09:56 PM (#6130150)
American Family Field needs an estimated $448 million in repairs

Sweet Jesus, did they dynamite the place?
   13. The Honorable Ardo Posted: May 26, 2023 at 01:03 AM (#6130175)
Did Bernie's slide break apart?
   14. Steve Parris, Je t'aime Posted: May 26, 2023 at 09:43 AM (#6130198)
So who's reporting this?
   15. The Non-Catching Molina (sjs1959) Posted: May 26, 2023 at 02:01 PM (#6130235)
So who's reporting this?


WISN radio host, WISN is the local conservative talk station, so it was probably leaked to them to make a fuss over it.

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