MLB Rumors: Brewers 'Contemplating' Relocation amid Push for Stadium Renovation Funds

The Milwaukee Brewers are "contemplating" whether to relocate amid negotiations for taxpayer-funded renovations to American Family Field, according to Molly Beck of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

The "Brew Crew" could start looking for a new home as soon as this fall if officials fail to come to terms on a taxpayer-funded package for improvements to Milwaukee's baseball stadium, which is required in the team's lease with the state, Beck added.

The lack of an agreement "has pushed Brewers officials to a point of contemplating whether communities with fast-growing populations, and no Major League Baseball teams, might be options if state and local officials don't produce enough funding for stadium renovations," according to Beck.

The Brewers have outlined $448 million in renovations needed at American Family Field, a publicly-owned stadium, that are required to maintain the terms of the team's lease with the state's Southeast Wisconsin Professional Baseball Park District, which are responsible for making the repairs.

The Brewers' lease runs through the end of 2030, but the club has been pushing for immediate improvements to the ballpark. Without a funding deal, the stadium district might not have enough money to fund the improvements, per Beck.

"The Brewers genuinely want to stay, it is only a question of whether they'll be able to with the (stadium) district broke," a source familiar with negotiations told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

Major League Baseball commissioner Rob Manfred also put some pressure on the Brewers and Wisconsin to upgrade the team's ballpark while meeting with reporters in May.

"It's really important that the existing obligation under the lease be funded so that this great ballpark is maintained," Manfred said.

The Brewers have been a fixture in Milwaukee since 1970 and they've been playing at American Family Field since 2001. And although the "Brew Crew" didn't reach the playoffs in 2022, they've been a solid team over the last two decades.

MLB relocations in the modern are rare. The last team to relocate was the Montreal Expos, which moved to Washington and became the Nationals in 2004.

However, the Oakland Athletics are expected to move to Las Vegas in 2025 with no stadium agreement in place to keep them in the California Bay Area.