The name change to Miller Park is a business decision and the name will be an expensive undertaking.
Rich Kirchen with the Milwaukee Business Journal said it could cost the team around $1 million to make adjustments like signage.
“That’s an expense that the Brewers will have to incur," said Kirchen. "They set aside some money for capital improvements so I’m sure it will be a very substantial number."
Kitchen said the partnership is a change of pace for the Brewers.
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“They’re going from a beer company to an insurance company that sells auto and home insurance so it’s just a different perspective, sort of a different image that they’re connecting with,” said Kirchen.
American Family Insurance CEO Jack Salzwedel said this isn’t the first time the Wisconsin Company has invested in sports marketing.
“It’s a very effective way for us to brand our product,” said Salzwedel.
American Family Insurance plans to bring an office building downtown Milwaukee and add jobs in software engineering and data science. Both parties aren’t disclosing how much the deal cost.
“As we got into the negotiations with the Brewers we felt that this was a very fair deal for the Brewers and a very fair deal for American Family,” said Salzwedel.
Miller Coors said in a statement, “....American Family Insurance, proactively pitched the Brewers an incredibly rich offer for the future naming rights to Miller Park....”
“The Brewers are getting about $2 million a year from MillerCoors so it’s probably something north of that. We don’t know how much,” said Kirchen.
Kirchen has insight as to how the deal came together.
“There was some connections between American Family and Milwaukee because one of their board members, Ted Kellner, who also had been the chairman of the board at Summerfest, so apparently he helped with some of that relationship-building, connecting these two organizations,” said Kirchen.
You won’t see changes until 2021, so fans have time to let it sink in.
“It’s a little tricky for fans to keep up with, but it’s just part of the business these days with professional sports,” said Kirchen.
