MillerCoors Loses Brewers Stadium Naming Rights, Ending Reign Of Perfect Milwaukee Thing

Stadium naming rights do change, often to much criticism. Except in rare cases—Comiskey hasn't been the White Sox home for 16 years, but in parts of Chicago, you'd never know that—the public eventually moves on. What happened yesterday in Milwaukee, though, is damn near a tragedy: MillerCoors lost the naming rights to the Milwaukee Brewers baseball stadium. ESPN reports American Family Insurance scooped up the rights for a 15-year period beginning in 2021.

Pour one out, folks. (Preferably a Miller Lite.) Everything about Miller Park was just so... appropriate. The Milwaukee Brewers play in Miller Park just a mile from a MillerCoors brewery. Milwaukee loves beer to a degree that's unlike almost any other city—their day-drinking culture is, I'd argue, second to none—and the fact that its baseball team had such a sudsy theme going was just icing on the cake. Or foam on the lager, as it were. In a statement sent to employees, MillerCoors said it will continue to have a relationship with the Brewers, albeit one that doesn't include its name in lights.

The new stadium's precise name hasn't yet been revealed; something like American Family Field just sounds way too squeaky-clean though, doesn't it? Allow The Takeout to humbly suggest a name that reflects another aspect of Milwaukee's culinary history: Secret Sauce Stadium. See, Miller Park has served a "secret stadium sauce" since the 1970s, consisting of ketchup and some other condiments mixed together. It's beloved, it's unique, it's got deep Milwaukee roots—and that's more than American Family Insurance can say.