Under a new stadium lease agreement that includes $500 million in public funding, the Milwaukee Brewers will kick off the 2025 season next week with some new and ongoing infrastructure improvements at American Family Field.
Projects that have been completed since the Wisconsin Professional Baseball Park District approved the new 25-year lease agreement with the Brewers in December 2024 include the installation of new broadcast cabling, the full renovation of the club-level kitchen area and bathrooms, and replacement of all freezer and refrigeration equipment throughout the ballpark. Those projects targeted spaces and equipment that were original to the ballpark, which was built in 2001.
“It’s something the fans may not notice directly, but as infrastructure gets old and deteriorates and becomes antiquated, it needs to be replaced, and these were three projects that were definitely in need of replacement,” said Brewers president of business operations Rick Schlesinger during a press conference Monday as part of the team’s preview week leading up to the season home opener, set for Monday, March 31, against the Kansas City Royals.
Work to winterize the stadium — the costliest and most involved project planned under the new lease — won’t begin until after the 2025 baseball season and will likely take “more than one off season to complete,” said Schlesinger. The purpose of the winterization project is to be able to host large-scale events at American Family Field all year round.
One infrastructure project that will be ongoing throughout the season is the buildout of the baseball operations offices on the terrace level overlooking right field. About 1,600 seats were removed to make way for the project, reducing total seating capacity to 40,100, which Schlesinger said is “still comfortably above the average” for MLB stadiums. He said the Brewers are considering ways to add some of that capacity back to other parts of the stadium over the next few years.
“The ballpark is evolving, it’s ever-changing,” said Schlesinger. “One of the things great about this facility is that it allows and enables us to do different things. So while we’re taking some seats away up in right field on the terrace level, we can add seats elsewhere, we can add more spaces elsewhere, more premium spaces, more fan-friendly areas.”
Other new features fans can expect to see at American Family Field this season is a new food truck park, called The Alley, located on the left field Loge level of the stadium, and a new facial-authentication ticketing system fans 18 and older can use to enter the stadium.
MLB Go-Ahead technology uses a camera that will authenticate fans faces, automatically scanning tickets once identified. The voluntary system will be available at the home plate west and third base gates. The Brewers are one of 10 MLB teams so far to implement the technology, and it’s one way the franchise is working to make the arrival and entry easier and more efficient for fans, said Schlesinger, pointing also to the automated parking payment system the franchise rolled out last season.
“One of the things we’re trying to do with parking and ingress is to make it a much more seamless experience, faster,” he said. “People want to get here, they don’t want to wait in lines, they want come to the ballpark, and we have a lot of cool things we’re showcasing this year for fans to explore in the ballpark. If you can get here faster, that’s a good thing.”
New broadcast deal
Fans who are not watching the Brew Crew from the stadium’s seats this season can catch games live on the FanDuel Sports Network (formerly Bally Sports), thanks to a broadcast partnership the Brewers struck late last year with network owner Diamond Sports Group.
As was the case under the Bally Sports brand, Brewers games will be available on all major cable networks and satellite. They will also be available to stream on either the FanDuel Sports Network app or Amazon Prime throughout the state, in addition to other markets where Brewers games were not previously available including parts of Iowa, Minnesota, the Upper Peninsula of Michigan and Northern Illinois, according to Schlesinger.
“We’re excited about the high quality they’re gonna bring, and again, for the fan who was used to watching 145 live Brewer games on Bally’s, they’ll have the same experience in 2025,” said Schlesinger.
Remembering Uecker
Schlesinger acknowledged early in his remarks the void that legendary Brewers radio announcer Bob Uecker left in his passing earlier this year. Uecker, who was the primary broadcaster for the Brewers for 54 seasons, died on Jan. 16 at the age of 90 after battling small cell lung cancer since early 2023.
“We’re still sort of dealing with the fact that the legend, the icon, the epitome of Brewers baseball is no longer with us,” said Schlesinger.
The team will honor Uecker in various ways on opening day and throughout the season and plans are still in the works for a public celebration of life event at the ballpark this summer. Details on the event are expected to be announced early next month.
The Brewers on Monday released a new limited line of apparel and merchandise honoring “Mr. Baseball.” The items are now on sale at the Brewers Team Store, with net proceeds benefitting charitable causes supported by Uecker and his family.
