American Family Field


American Family Field is a retractable roof stadium in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Located southwest of the intersection of Interstate 94 and Brewers Boulevard, it is the ballpark of Major League Baseball's Milwaukee Brewers. It opened in 2001 as a replacement for Milwaukee County Stadium and was called Miller Park until 2020.
American Family Field features North America's only fan-shaped convertible roof, which can open and close in less than 10 minutes. Large panes of glass allow natural grass to grow, augmented with heat lamp structures wheeled out across the field during the off-season.
The stadium opened in 2001 at a cost of $392 million. Between 1996 and 2020, taxpayers paid $609 million for the construction costs through higher sales taxes. In 2023, Wisconsin lawmakers entered into an agreement with the Milwaukee Brewers to spend nearly half a billion dollars of public funds on stadium renovations.

History

American Family Field was one of the largest construction projects in Wisconsin history. It was built with US$290 million of public funds from a 0.1% sales tax that began January 1, 1996, and ended on March 31, 2020. The tax was applied on purchases in Milwaukee County and four surrounding counties: Ozaukee, Racine, Washington, and Waukesha. The tax was controversial, in part because of the notion of using public funds for a privately owned sports team. The state senator who cast the deciding vote in the funding bill, George Petak of Racine, lost a recall election based on his vote for the stadium.
On November 9, 1996, groundbreaking took place in a parking lot behind County Stadium. Originally scheduled to open in 2000, American Family Field's construction was delayed after three construction workers were killed in an accident on July 14, 1999. A Lampson Transi-lift crane brought in to build the roof collapsed while lifting a 450-ton roof section during windy conditions. A camera crew was filming construction of the stadium on that day and captured the collapse on video as it occurred. Repair work and an investigation forced the Brewers to stay in County Stadium for one more year, until 2001. There was some talk of having the Brewers move to American Family Field in the middle of 2000, but it was determined that too many issues would need to be resolved for it to be a realistic possibility.
The stadium was previously called Miller Park as part of a $40 million naming rights deal with Miller Brewing Company which expired at the end of 2020. Madison-based American Family Insurance purchased the naming rights in a new 15-year deal.

Structural challenges

The unconventional fan-shaped retractable roof has not been without complications. Major elements of the pivot system behind home plate and the outfield roof track have been replaced, even after the crane incident.
At the end of the 2006 season, the roof's bogie system was replaced at a cost of over $13 million. The 10 new,, bogies were paid for with money from the settlement between the stadium district and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries of America. Six of the bogies weigh, while the four others weigh. The work was completed by lifting sections of the roof approximately with Enerpac hydraulic lifts, while a crane replaced the bogies individually. "The bogies will last for the life of the facility," said Mike Duckett, executive director of the then named Miller Park stadium district. The project was completed by the start of the 2007 season.

Additions

In time for the 2006 season there were three additions to the stadium. Two sets of LED scoreboards were added. One replaced the formerly manually operated "out of town" scoreboards along the left and right field walls with a new set of LED scoreboards along the left-field wall. The new "out of town" scoreboards show the score of every Major League game on that day. A second-tier marquee scoreboard was also added along the bottom of the 300-level of the stadium stretching from foul pole to home plate to foul pole, with the portion closest to the foul lines used to provide open captions of announcements from the public address system and advertisements. The section of the second-tier scoreboard above home plate displays statistics for those unable to see the main scoreboard above the center-field wall. The final addition to American Family Field for the 2006 season was the addition of a field-level picnic area in the corner of right-field. The picnic area has a capacity of 75 and provides a place for fans to watch the game in a leisurely setting and be within feet of the right-fielder. Known first as the Mercedes-Benz Field Haus, the picnic area's name was changed to AirTran Airways Landing Zone in 2009, and to the ATI Club in 2012. In 2017, due to a contract dispute between ATI and the Brewers, it was apparently billed as the Right Field Patio until gaining its sponsorship as the Aurora Health Care Bullpen in 2018.
In 2009, American Family Field's outfield was replaced with "Lo-Mo" Kentucky bluegrass just like the infield was the prior year. The new turf, common in other ballparks around baseball, is denser and has a sand base, instead of the sand and clay mix under the original grass. The turf yields truer hops and fewer instances in which the baseball skips under an outfielder's glove than the previous turf.
During the off-season between 2010 and 2011, the stadium's original centerfield scoreboard was replaced by a full-length and full color Daktronics 1080p HD display board which was the ninth-largest screen among MLB stadiums as of 2012, along with a public address/sound system upgrade. By 2023, the relative screen size had dropped to 20th among the 30 MLB teams.
In late 2023, Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers signed into effect a bill totaling $500 million of taxpayer money to allow for repairs, ensuring the team remains in Milwaukee until 2050, despite threats of relocation by MLB. Debuting in the 2024 season, American Family Field had many renovations done with the most notable changes being in center and right field, with a 12,077 square feet board in center, and a 2,840 square feet board in right. The Brewers partnered with ANC in order to provide the 8mm LED displays. The center field board ranks 3rd in the majors for overall size behind the New York Mets and Cleveland Guardians. The new center field board is over double the size of the old board at 5,940 square feet. LED displays were also added on the dugout and behind home plate. The 3rd Street Market Hall, a popular food hall and event venue in downtown Milwaukee, opened with four restaurants in the right field loge level. These vendors include: Kompali Tacos, Smokin' Jack's BBQ, Kawa, and Anytime Arepa. The team store in left field was also renovated.
The team also announced new parking technology in collaboration with the Interstate Parking Company, based out of Milwaukee. The goal of this partnership is to speed up the time it takes for parking at American Family Field, which can be up to an hour during the busiest times. Visitors may purchase parking in advance at a discounted rate, or may pay when they arrive via QR codes across the stadium grounds. Parking ambassadors aid in the parking process.
Plans for future improvements include a $25 million winterization of the stadium as well as improvements to the roof, elevators, suites, and other parts of the ballpark.

Sensory friendly

In June 2022 the Brewers announced the creation of a quiet area at American Family Field known as a sensory friendly area. The area is equipped with "sensory bags" to accommodate those with sensory processing disorders. The sensory bags contain noise-cancelling headphones, a fidget toy, verbal cue cards, and a weighted lap pad.

Attendance

From the year American Family Field opened in 2001, the Brewers have averaged 31,783 fans per game, or 2,574,423 per season, while placing 11th out of 30 franchises in total attendance, despite having only eight winning seasons through the 2019 season, and having won only two MLB playoff series in just five total series appearances, and having the smallest market size of any Major League city. In 2011, the Brewers set a franchise record of 3,071,373, and beginning in 2004 they have attracted at least two million fans—an ongoing streak of 15 consecutive years, the 12th longest in Major League history. Prior to American Family Field, the previous such consecutive streak in Milwaukee baseball history was four years, from 1954 to 1957. Since 2007, except for the required reduced attendance in 2020 and 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Brewers have drawn at least 2.5 million fans in 13 of 15 seasons, and have only had one season, where they did not average 30,000+ fans per game.
YearTotal attendanceGamesGame averageMajor League rank
20012,811,0418134,70411th
20021,969,1538124,31119th
20031,700,3548120,99225th
20042,062,3828125,46220th
20052,211,0238127,29718th
20062,335,6438128,83517th
20072,869,1448135,42212th
20083,068,4588137,8829th
20093,037,4518137,4999th
20102,776,5318134,27811th
20113,071,3738137,9187th
20122,831,3858134,95511th
20132,531,1058131,24815th
20142,797,3848134,5368th
20152,542,5588131,39013th
20162,314,6148128,57516th
20172,627,7058431,28210th
20182,850,8758135,19610th
20192,923,3338136,0917th
20200290-
20211,824,2828122,52210th
20222,412,4208030,28014th
20232,551,3478131,49815th
20242,537,2028131,32316th
20252,650,0898132,71712th
Total61,306,8521,97531,041

YearTotal attendanceGamesGame averageMajor League rank
200887,926243,963
2011263,962643,949
2018263,165643,861
202184,664242,332
202382,058241,029
2024121,966340,655
2025211,372542,274
Total1,114,8432642,879
All62,421,6952,00131,195