Brewers' announced 2025 stadium changes are a very mixed bag for fans

When the Milwaukee Brewers announced that they were doing millions in renovations to American Family Field this offseason, the news was understandably met mostly with joy. The home crowds at Brewers games are a passionate bunch, so it was nice to see the team continue to invest in the game day experience for those that show up to support the squad.

Well, the results of some of those stadium renovation efforts have been announced and it is a pretty mixed bag. Overall, the news was great and it included some new food options as well as improvements to the team's entry gate process. Those are big wins for anyone that has been to a game with anything resembling a good crowd.

The bad news is that among the "improvements" made this offseason was that the Brewers removed 1,600 seats in the terrace level to make room for more office space.

Brewers fans should be wary after team removes 1,600 seats from American Family Field

This could end up being a complete nothing burger. Team officials were quick to say that they really needed the space for an expanded operations department and that the team is going to look at long-term projects to bring the stadium's capacity back up down the road. If that happens, then there is no problem.

It is also great that Brewers games will now have a bunch of food trucks around with local fare. The more places that are good food options at games, the shorter lines are and that is a win for everyone. Milwaukee is also installing facial recognition technology for some gates to help make entry go faster as well as express lanes for fans that don't bring bags with them. All great news.

However, fans should be wary of any changes that seemingly handicap the team in terms of earning potential. While some teams have lucrative TV and marketing deals to expand their revenue, small market teams like Milwaukee don't and rely heavily on gates and the Brewers now have 1,600 less they can sell to each game which is going to show up on the balance sheet if the team goes on a run and we start seeing sellouts.

Do the Brewers think that they will not need those seats and is that a clue to how much they are willing to invest in the team if they don't see a purpose to keeping them? It is hard to say beyond the team's commitments to explore expansions down the road. It is a puzzling move with the team acting like they are strapped for cash only to remove a revenue source. Time will tell if it is a short-term inconvenience or if it is indicative of an organization that feels as though the team is already as close to being a draw as they are going to get.

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