MLB: Milwaukee Brewers Relocation Efforts Get Massive Update (Report)

MLB: The Milwaukee Brewers are absolutely adored in the state of Wisconsin.  It is hard to imagine that they are currently at the center of many relocation rumors.  According to multiple reports, the Milwaukee Brewers are “contemplating” whether to relocate amid negotiations for taxpayer-funded renovations to American Family Field.

The Milwaukee Brewers Relocation Efforts Get A Massive Update (MLB)

According to Molly Beck of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:

“The Brewers genuinely want to stay, it is only a question of whether they’ll be able to with the (stadium) district broke,” a source familiar with negotiations told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

The Brewers have outlined $448 million in renovations needed at 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, 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, per Beck.

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 Republican lawmakers, who control the legislature.

It has also been mentioned that lawmakers have considered softening their stance on giving no funding but we don’t know the details yet of what they are proposing.

We don’t know yet if this 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 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, Major League Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred visited Milwaukee in May and cited the Oakland Athletics, who are in the process of moving to Las Vegas, as a cautionary tale for the Brewers. He said that 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.

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