MILWAUKEE — The Milwaukee Brewers are starting the 2024 baseball season with a brand new main scoreboard and an additional screen over right field.
The new state-of-the-art scoreboards and are coupled with new additions to its team shop.
Rick Schlesinger, president of business operations, said the new scoreboards cost about $14 million. He said fans will have increased visibility since the main scoreboard is over twice the size of the old one, at 3,000 square feet.
To make the project happen, the Brewers partnered with ANC, a company that installs digital signage and visual displays for sports arenas. ANC helped oversee the enhancement of existing digital and static stadium signage, the installation of new LED signage and the integration of a new broadcast control room at American Family Field.
Schlesinger said he believes the investment was worth it for the fans.
“Our fans have high requirements for how they want to be entertained at the games and we want to meet those requirements and maybe exceed their expectations,” said Schlesinger.
Schlesinger said the new technology is also expected to exceed the expectations of sponsors.
“Because it allows them to change their signage digitally as opposed to the past, when we had large signs on the scoreboard that were fixed and would take weeks to be replaced. Now with a click of a few buttons, if a sponsor wants to change its signage on the big display, we can do it very easily,” he said.
Changes are taking place in the team store, too.
Tom Hecht is the Milwaukee Brewers vice president of consumer affairs. Hecht said the store now sells an eco-friendly clothing line. He said aged merchandise at the Brewers Team Store is no longer thrown away; it is made into new, one-of-a-kind clothing.
“For us to be able to take re-purposed merchandise and re-use, I think is great for the ecology but also, every piece is a one of a kind, everybody who buys one of these is going to have a piece that nobody else owns,” said Hecht.
Hecht said the store added a self-service jersey station where people can order personalized baseball jerseys at the game and pick them up at the end of the game in a special locker.
He said they also moved the registers to a new area, which frees up more store space and speeds up the check-out line.
Schlesinger said he still wants to preserve the old-fashioned feel of baseball in the stadium, while keeping up with any future changes in the industry.
“Depending on what your appetite is, you are going to be entertained and have fun at the ballpark,” said Schlesinger.