The land surrounding American Family Field as long been home to, well, not much. The Brewers made a conscious decision to remain in the Menomonee Valley area of Milwaukee (right next to the old County Stadium) when planning what was then called Miller Park, and the major reasons were that the Brewers would control a large amount of land for surface parking and tailgating, and would not have to compete with any downtown entertainment at a time when the urban ballpark was not yet trendy, nor was downtown Milwaukee anything to be proud of. Times have changed in the last 25+ years, and the Brewers and Milwaukeeans need not look any further than our own downtown Deer District surrounding the new NBA Bucks arena for an example of a successful, 365-days-a-year revenue-generating district. This was a district I was admittedly very skeptical of that has been a huge success since pretty much day one. But there were a number of things working in the Bucks favor that the Brewers unfortunately do no have - 1) the arena is already nestled into a vibrant downtown and 2) the majority was privately financed outside of public infrastructure improvements, and 3) the land the Deer District was built on was largely available and practically given away. The Brewers and their stadium authority own all of the surrounding land and it's really in an area of the city that is not super exciting, surrounded by manufacturing buildings, and not to mention bisected by a major interstate. Nobody outside of Mr. Burgelis and a couple of urban planners have ever expressed any interest in this sort of district, particularly the Brewers, and right now this is all just a nice pipe dream on paper. This was all partially brought about by the relocating and thus rezoning of the large Komatsu plant to the south of the stadium, but as of today, nothing concrete has been planned for that land.
I certainly commend the effort and it's certainly worth vetting, as it could be a novel way to help finance future renovations to the ballpark in lieu of extending a tax, but I think it would be a stretch in a city of Milwaukee's size and with the resources of the Brewers to get this done. As someone who doesn't live that far away and having seen the success of places like the Battery in Atlanta in person, of course I would love to see the increased tax base, but it would be a long haul to get this done. To get this to work, it would mean relocating a lot of businesses, probably a major reconstruction of the highway and removal of the WI-175 Spur, a private-public partnership entered between the Brewers and the city/county, and probably most crucial, it requires an influx of business and residents from somewhere. This sort of district does not organically create business - on the surface, the Deer District looks successful, but really it is just pulling business and people spending their money from other areas of the city, and the same thing would happen at this "Brewers District." Neighboring West Milwaukee, and a lot of the small businesses in my neighborhood, would eventually die depending on the size and success of the entertainment district. As much as I would love to see every inch of Milwaukee thriving, the logistics of this situation don't seem to work out very well, but you never know. At some point in my lifetime, the Brewers will do either a major overhaul or completely new ballpark, and that will undoubtedly stir the pot on this discussion once more.
touch with baseball when his childhood heroes Robin Yount, Paul Molitor, and Jim Gantner retired but the Great Home Run Chase of 1998 reignited his passion. As a student at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Erik became involved with the campus chapter of Habitat for Humanity. With this group Erik traveled to Portland, OR and Baltimore, MD to work on construction projects and help the group raise $25,000 to partially sponsor a house in Milwaukee. Also at UWM, Erik met Peter Nagel. The two attended their first Brewers game together during Opening Weekend 2003. Despite their failure to ignite the coals at their first tailgate, the two had a blast and were soon making weekly trips to the ballpark. Erik has gone on to several colleges and changed careers several times, and has moved all the way out to New Hampshire, but has always stayed true to his baseball roots by holding part-time stadium usher jobs. To this day he looks back fondly on his incredible cross-country journey.
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