Almost all ballparks have corporate names, bought and paid for by companies for marketing purposes. Some of them, however, seem a bit more organic and a bit more integrated with the tenant-team’s identity than others. The beer names are the most obvious.
The big beer company that was once based in St. Louis no longer owns the Cardinals, but it’d be weird for them not to play in Busch Stadium. Coors Field, likewise, seems appropriate for the Rockies, partially because it’s the only name that ballpark has ever had, partially because both the Rockies and Coors are so strongly identified as Colorado institutions.
The same could be said for Miller Park in Milwaukee. Milwaukee’s famous beer brand on the name of the stadium housing the baseball team which is specifically named as a nod to the brewing industry just seems right somehow. But it won’t be the name on the building following the end of the 2020 season:
#BREAKING from our @gmatzek: Home of #Brewers will no longer be named Miller Park after 2020. Instead, American Family Insurance will be name sponsor. https://t.co/eG1yk5BgXD pic.twitter.com/Y884JvrgGt
— 620 WTMJ (@620wtmj) January 22, 2019
Sure, it’s simply a matter of trading one corporate name for another, so it’s not like anyone should cry too many tears about this, but it still seems wrong somehow. How do the Brewers not play in Miller Park? It’ll take a lot of getting used to.
UPDATE: MillerCoors simply got outbid:
Statement from MillerCoors: "American Family Insurance proactively pitched the Brewers an incredibly rich offer for the future naming rights to Miller Park, and we’re proud to welcome American Family to the family we’ve been part of for generations." There you have it.
— Tom (@Haudricourt) January 22, 2019