Miller Park name change coming after the 2020 season

[FVBrewerFan]

Team gets more money from AmFam? Great. It's a name of a building.

 

Exactly. As long as there's more money to improve the team I don't care one way or another.

 

I agree. I was surprised at the vehemence of some of the negative opinions expressed here, although I shouldn't have been, as I've experienced a parallel situation to this one:

 

From 1913 to 2006 my soccer team back home in London played at "Arsenal Stadium" - which we all just called "Highbury" (for the part of London it sat in). In 2006, the club moved to a new Stadium they had built (with private money) which held a lot more people. They did this to stay financially competitive. A part of that was, unfortunately, the sale of naming rights for the new Stadium (after 93 years of the same Stadium with the same name) - which were purchased by Emirates Airlines, leading to "Emirates Stadium". Much like the reaction here, Arsenal fans were up in arms about it at first but, like the views quoted above, we also realized that it was necessary to help keep the team competitive, so we stopped complaining. As we all hated the new name, most of us just seemed to adopt the phrase "going to The Arsenal" (which had been used by some for a long time anyway) or something similar, and that got us around our angst about the name.

 

The thing to remember, as said by others here, it's just the name on a building. If Mark Attanasio uses that money to improve the team and the fan experience, I'm all for it - even if the name becomes a mouthful. I'll just say "I'm going to The Brewers" instead of "I'm going to Miller Park".

 

Honestly, would have been better for everyone if the Gunners just went under.

[anglotiger]

Honestly, would have been better for everyone if the Gunners just went under.

 

Good thing that you put that in blue... I'd hate to have to go all "hooligan" on you...

[StearnsFTW]

As McCalvey mentioned on Twitter, the park immediately to Milwaukee's south is named after gum. Life goes on.

 

Yeah, I'm having a hard time caring about this.

[patrickgpe]

If it’s American Family Field, it could be worse. I think the issue is that this was just thrown at us and Miller Park is the gold standard for corporate sponsorship names.

[SRB]

Incredibly gross. And an insurance company no less???

[PeaveyFury]

I wonder if the backlash is expected or surprise, and if they care regardless. If they do, I wonder if American Family Field at Miller Park is plausible.

[OldSchoolSnapper]

I find it all kind of funny. I couldn't care less, and Miller/Bud/Coors are all trash mass produced "beers," so the "integrity" of it all is funny to me. It's not like it was Spotted Cow Field and they shunned some local little man brewery.

[SRB]

I find it all kind of funny. I couldn't care less, and Miller/Bud/Coors are all trash mass produced "beers," so the "integrity" of it all is funny to me. It's not like it was Spotted Cow Field and they shunned some local little man brewery.

 

It's not that I have any particular allegiance to Miller Brewing Co., it's just that Miller Park is a good name that sounds like a real stadium rather than one of these pathetic corporate-named abominations that confirms us as a lower-tier team. Sort of the equivalent of having atrocious uniforms or an atrocious logo.

 

A team like the Cubs would never have to do this. (Yes, Wrigley Field is sort of a corporate tie-in, but it's really called that because William Wrigley Jr. personally owned the team 100 years ago. The equivalent to this is if they renamed it to Hubba Bubba Strawberry Flavor Field in 2021.)

[OldSchoolSnapper]

I guess I don't differentiate Miller from any other bloated corporation, so I couldn't care any less if Kohl's/Northwestern Mutual/Harley slap their name on the place.

[tomwopat]

 

I agree. I was surprised at the vehemence of some of the negative opinions expressed here, although I shouldn't have been, as I've experienced a parallel situation to this one:

 

From 1913 to 2006 my soccer team back home in London played at "Arsenal Stadium" - which we all just called "Highbury" (for the part of London it sat in). In 2006, the club moved to a new Stadium they had built (with private money) which held a lot more people. They did this to stay financially competitive. A part of that was, unfortunately, the sale of naming rights for the new Stadium (after 93 years of the same Stadium with the same name) - which were purchased by Emirates Airlines, leading to "Emirates Stadium". Much like the reaction here, Arsenal fans were up in arms about it at first but, like the views quoted above, we also realized that it was necessary to help keep the team competitive, so we stopped complaining. As we all hated the new name, most of us just seemed to adopt the phrase "going to The Arsenal" (which had been used by some for a long time anyway) or something similar, and that got us around our angst about the name.

 

The thing to remember, as said by others here, it's just the name on a building. If Mark Attanasio uses that money to improve the team and the fan experience, I'm all for it - even if the name becomes a mouthful. I'll just say "I'm going to The Brewers" instead of "I'm going to Miller Park".

 

Honestly, would have been better for everyone if the Gunners just went under.

Seconded.

 

In all seriousness, my Spurs face a similar situation needing the revenue bump to stay competitive, but they need to finish the darn thing first.

[LouisEly]

I find it all kind of funny. I couldn't care less, and Miller/Bud/Coors are all trash mass produced "beers," so the "integrity" of it all is funny to me. It's not like it was Spotted Cow Field and they shunned some local little man brewery.

Pretty much everything sold on shelves is mass produced.

[anglotiger]

In all seriousness, my Spurs face a similar situation needing the revenue bump to stay competitive, but they need to finish the darn thing first.

 

Then they need to pay for it... Finances will likely be awfully lean for a while. Take it from your much more successful North London rivals...

 

"tomwopat"... interesting. I used to work the brother of The Dukes of Hazzard star...

[Invader3K]

Here's an anecdote: A couple years ago, our neighborhood was hit with a fairly severe hail storm. Pretty soon, every house in the neighborhood got a new roof. The only folks who didn't get new roofs? Those with American Family Insurance homeowner policies.

[areacodes]

I find it all kind of funny. I couldn't care less, and Miller/Bud/Coors are all trash mass produced "beers," so the "integrity" of it all is funny to me. It's not like it was Spotted Cow Field and they shunned some local little man brewery.

 

It's not that I have any particular allegiance to Miller Brewing Co., it's just that Miller Park is a good name that sounds like a real stadium rather than one of these pathetic corporate-named abominations that confirms us as a lower-tier team. Sort of the equivalent of having atrocious uniforms or an atrocious logo.

 

A team like the Cubs would never have to do this. (Yes, Wrigley Field is sort of a corporate tie-in, but it's really called that because William Wrigley Jr. personally owned the team 100 years ago. The equivalent to this is if they renamed it to Hubba Bubba Strawberry Flavor Field in 2021.)

 

 

I think the name Miller Park is about as clean as a “corporate name” can get for a stadium, but it still was a corporate name. It just fit with the team really well. However, changing the name doesn’t make us any more or less of a “lower tier team.” The are more teams (higher, lower or mid tier) that have corporate sponsored stadium names than don’t.

 

It is also not the equivalent of renaming Wrigley to Hubba Bubba Strawberry Flavor Field.

 

Do I like the sound of American Family Field? Eh, not really but I also don’t really care. I’ll still call it Miller Park, just like I still call Milio’s “Big Mike’s” and BP “Amoco” at times.

[torts]

The Stadium Formerly Known As Miller Park

[502 to Right]

I don't like the change because Miller Park fit perfectly but I'll still call it Miller Park. I never called the Bradley Center the BMO Harris Bradley Center. I still call the MECCA the MECCA (I literally don't know what the new name is, or what the several iterations have been). The tall office building in Chicago is the Sears Tower. The White Sox play at New Comiskey.

 

No big deal.

 

 

*Full disclosure: I like Miller High Life and detest craft beer. I think craft beer is overrated, overpriced crap.

[trwi7]

I think beer is overrated, overpriced crap.

 

Agreed

[OldSchoolSnapper]

I think beer is overrated, overpriced crap.

 

Agreed

 

A bit like saying vacation is overrated and overpriced. There is a pretty massive variety to choose from there.

[folly412]

Now, virtually every ad is an insurance company and their nemesis, the trial lawyers.

 

The way to sell the name to fans: tell them that the runner up was One Call, That's All Park.

[OldSchoolSnapper]

I am slightly curious if it means anything for their long time partnership with West Bend Mutual

[mtrebs]

"It'll always be Miller Ballpark to me."

 

http://www.espn.com/media/pg2/2001/0801/photo/s_lopes_si.jpg

 

Lmao... I thought of this as well!

[mtrebs]

From a cultural and sporting perspective, Miller Park was a great name. Local company. Lots of history. Easy to say/remember. And it's beer - which weaves itself into Wisconsin sporting events pretty seamlessly. It's fun, it's relevant and it's kind of cool.

 

AmFam is a fine company with Wisconsin roots. But it's insurance. There's no fun in insurance. It's just another blah name - like Firserv or AT&T or Verizon or whatever. People might respect - and even like the business - but few consumers will have warm fuzzy feelings that company either.

 

Miller Park was a great name. I will be sad to see it go.

 

This is exactly how I feel. If Miller Park would have been originally named after some other financial/insurance company I wouldn’t care about the change. Being named after a beer company (and one it’s such strong Milwaukee ties) and the team being the Brewers was just the best fit possible.

 

That being said, I hope they keep the name short. “American Family Insurance Field” would be an awful name, although I’m sure everyone would just say “AmFam Field” (when they don’t say Miller Park).

[mtrebs]

Are they no longer going to find excited fans in the parking lots that are drinking Miller Lite and show them on the scoreboard? Now they’ll ask who has AmFam insurance and everyone will be like “meh”.

[502 to Right]

Did Schlitz get into the bidding? It's the beer that made Milwaukee famous!

[DHonks]

I can get behind AmFam Park. But Miller Park...I tell everyone about Miller's legacy in Milwaukee. I drove to high school through Miller Valley, I could smell Miller Brewing from school, I could see the bright red sign, and many days during high school I could hear the pilings for Miller Park being driven into the ground. I remember going to bed crying after the stadium vote was shot down, and I am forever grateful for Miller stepping up and being a strategic partner with my Brewers.