American Family Field improvements, stadium ready for Brewers season
Improvements to American Family Field
It's a new year, a new lease, a new chapter for the Milwaukee Brewers. With opening day a week away, the team is giving fans a look at what to expect this season, and some of those changes were made possible thanks to your wallet.
MILWAUKEE - It's a new year, a new lease, a new chapter for the Milwaukee Brewers.
With opening day a week away, the team is giving fans a look at what to expect this season.
Some of those changes were made possible thanks to your wallet.
American Family Field
2025 plans and projects
What we know:
The Stadium District, which manages American Family Field, has about $38 million budgeted for projects in 2025, including parking lot replacements and chiller replacements.
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As for the work that was done before this season - a lot of it - you might not notice.
It includes aging broadcast infrastructure, boilers, and air handling units. The list goes on.
Machinery at American Family Field
"Stuff that the fans will maybe not notice right away but would notice if it wasn’t working properly," said Brewers President of Business Operations Rick Schlesinger.
On Monday, March 24, 2025, the Wisconsin Professional Baseball Park District and the Brewers talked about the improvements fans will see this season.
It's the first year after a funding bill was approved in 2023.
Rick Schlesinger addresses the media
That new lease between the Stadium District and the team keeps the Brewers in Milwaukee through 2050.
"The district has completely redone all the broadcast cabling infrastructure. It was original to the ballpark, so you can imagine the advancements in technology from 1997 when that stuff was installed," added Schlesinger.
The funding provides more than $500 million dollars in taxpayer funds from both state and local contributions, Milwaukee County, and the City of Milwaukee.
That money goes towards the newly created stadium improvement fund for renovations.
List of improvement projects at American Family Field
For example, the Club Level kitchen was remodeled.
"It was completely redone with new kitchen equipment, much larger space. We relocated and renovated the bathrooms next to the space," said Schlesinger.
The stadium opened in 2001 and is in need of repairs. Maintenance on the roof is expected to cost $375,000 dollars annually.
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"The district does a fantastic job of making sure the roof is operable, and we spend – the district spends a lot of money every year on roof maintenance and that’s been the case since day one," said Schlesinger.
Other projects
What we know:
Another part of that funding bill is a ticket tax for non-brewer events.
That tax will start at two dollars for normal seats and eight dollars for luxury boxes or suites.
Another project is winterizing the stadium, but the Brewers said that won't happen until after this season and will likely take two off-seasons to complete.
The Source: FOX6 attended the media event with Rick Schlesinger, Brewers President of Business Operations. FOX6 also received information about the updates from the Wisconsin Professional Baseball Park District.