James B. Nelson and Rick Barrett and Paul Gores

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

American Family Insurance will replace Miller Brewing as the naming rights sponsor for the Milwaukee Brewers stadium starting in 2021.

The 15-year deal was announced by the Brewers and Madison-based American Family in a Miller Park news conference Tuesday afternoon.

The financial terms will not be made public, and the new name for the ballpark will be announced later, said Rick Schlesinger, Brewers chief operating officer.

“We are thrilled to support and join the continuing transformation of a franchise and city that mean so much to so many people in our home state,” said Jack Salzwedel, American Family Insurance chairman and chief executive officer.

American Family is the No. 1 insurer of homes and autos in Wisconsin.

The news marks another major step in the expansion of American Family into Milwaukee. In 2017, the company agreed to a naming rights deal for the Summerfest amphitheater.

Also Tuesday, Salzwedel said American Family would open an office building housing "high tech type jobs" in downtown Milwaukee. The location and other details, including the number of jobs and whether or not it would be new construction or an existing building were still being worked out, he said.

It will be the first time that American Family has had employees in Milwaukee, Salzwedel said.

The Brewers and American Family said there was a broader aspect to their partnership.

"The Brewers and American Family Insurance will collaboratively fund community projects, including refurbishing youth and high school baseball fields," a Brewers news release said.

Mayor Tom Barrett praised American Family for strengthening its ties to Milwaukee.

"This is a beautiful relationship that's going to grow even stronger," the mayor said.

Miller breaks the news

The naming rights news broke early thanks to an email sent to MillerCoors employees Tuesday morning that indicated the brewer had been outbid by the insurance company, a longtime sponsor of the team.

"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," MillerCoors said in the statement.

All parties adopted a different tone at the news conference, which was attended by Jim Kanter, MillerCoors’ general manager for Wisconsin.

Salzwedel made a point of thanking MillerCoors for being the first naming rights sponsor, a decision that helped secure the public financing deal for the stadium.

The Brewers have conducted quiet behind-the-scenes talks for months as the naming rights deal with Miller was drawing to a close.

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Schlesinger said the Brewers last summer approached American Family and "a select group" of other companies about the naming rights. He said it became evident early on that American Family was a strong contender.

"They checked a lot of boxes as a company that should be a focal point," Schlesinger said.

Both Kanter and Schlesinger indicated that Miller was involved in talks with the Brewers. They stressed that the brewer would have a large presence at the stadium after the naming rights change.

"We were having active negotiations with the Brewers," said Kanter, who indicated that the length of the commitment might have been an issue for MillerCoors.

"They found another partner that was ready and willing and able to agree with the time frame that they were looking at."

The deal between the Brewers and American Family came together quickly and didn't involve an unusually high price tag, said a source with knowledge of the deal’s process and structure.

"There are reports that the naming rights compensation offered by American Family was ‘incredibly rich,’ but that is exaggerated," the source said. "The deal is consistent with the size of the market, and comparable to what teams are receiving in similar naming rights deals."

MillerCoors will continue to provide the stadium's signature beer.

"While the name on the stadium will change after the 2020 season, we fully expect Brewers fans inside and outside the stadium will continue to celebrate every home run and every strikeout with one of our beloved brands," the company said.

Miller deal key to new stadium

Miller Park opened for Brewers baseball in 2001.

While a political fight ultimately resulted in the State of Wisconsin agreeing to fund the majority of the stadium's construction, through a new five-county sales tax, the final piece of the funding came from Miller Brewing.

In March 1996, Miller purchased the naming rights to Miller Park through the 2020 season for approximately $40 million, an estimated $2.06 million a year.

This is American Family's second major naming rights deal in the Milwaukee market.

American Family in 2017 became a "presenting sponsor" for Summerfest and replaced Marcus Corp. as the naming rights sponsor for the 23,000-seat venue at the lakefront festival. Financial terms for the 10-year deal were not released.

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Construction of the renovated American Family Insurance Amphitheater is underway. The first phase will open this summer and the grand opening will be in 2020, said Don Smiley, Summerfest president and CEO. Smiley is also chairman of the stadium district board.

Last summer, Brookfield-based Fiserv Inc. and the Milwaukee Bucks agreed to a 25-year sponsorship for the team's new $524 million downtown arena.

That process took longer than expected, with Bucks owners and executives spending months extolling the virtues of the new arena and international appeal of the NBA and the Bucks.

There was no similar drawn-out drama when it came to the new name for the Brewers stadium.

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A 2011 study by Joyce Julius & Associates Inc., which specializes in measuring the scope of sponsorships across various media, placed the "exposure value" of the Brewers stadium name at $2.74 million, suggesting that Miller was getting a good deal for its annual payment of $2.06 million.

Julius looked for mentions on local, regional and national television programs, major newspapers, and Internet news and features.

American Family sells American Family-brand products, including auto, homeowners, life, business and farm/ranch insurance, primarily through its exclusive agents in 19 states. American Family affiliates — The General, Homesite and AssureStart — also provide options for consumers who want to manage their insurance matters directly over the internet or by phone.

Total revenue for American Family was about $9.3 billion in 2017, making it one of Wisconsin's biggest companies. It posted net income of $155.6 million in 2017. Data for 2018 isn't yet available.

American Family is among the 15 largest property-casualty insurers in the U.S. Its group of companies employs more than 12,000 people. Among them are 4,275 employees in Wisconsin. It sells American Family-brand products through 2,800 independent contractor agents, including more than 300 in Wisconsin.

It was number 311 on last year's Fortune 500 list of the largest U.S. companies, ranked by annual revenue.

In 2017, the American Family Insurance Dreams Foundation distributed $6.5 million in grants, major gifts, hurricane relief, scholarships and matches of agent and employee charitable donations.

Having "top of mind awareness" with consumers is important in insurance and many other product categories, said Jim Pokrywczynski, associate professor of strategic communications at Marquette University's Diederich College of Communications.

Companies want to keep their name in front of people on a regular basis, and not necessarily through conventional advertising, according to Pokrywczynski.

"I am sure that American Family has assessed what the value proposition is with the Brewers stadium, and has other considerations that include everything from media exposure to business-to-business opportunities, providing hospitality for important clients, premium seating, access to athletes, that sort of thing," he said.

"Attorneys do the same thing. It's why we see (attorney) David Gruber's name all over the place."

MillerCoors has stadium deal in Denver

MillerCoors has the naming rights to Coors Field in Denver, home of the Colorado Rockies baseball team.

Coors Field is 16 miles east of the Coors brewery in Golden, Colorado.

Coors has one of the best deals in sports for that facility. In the early 1990s, the brewer chipped in $30 million to help bring the Rockies to Denver, with $15 million earmarked for stadium naming rights. When the lease was signed in 1995, it gave Coors the naming rights "in perpetuity" at no extra cost.

Beer drinkers are a loyal lot, and seeing their favorite brand associated with their favorite team only serves to reinforce that loyalty.

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"There's a reason why a beer company would buy naming rights to a stadium," said Rick Shea, president of Shea Food Consultants, a consumer and retail marketing consulting firm in Minneapolis interviewed last fall during the Brewers' playoff run.

"You're paying for a premium audience. Typically in sports you are paying for the male consumer 25 to 54, who is harder to reach, and that's why companies do it. If you're a beer manufacturer, that's your core consumer, so it certainly makes sense."