American Family Field

American Family Field is a retractable roof stadium in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Located southwest of the intersection of Interstate 94 and Brewers Boulevard, it is the ballpark of Major League Baseball's Milwaukee Brewers. It opened in 2001 as a replacement for Milwaukee County Stadium and was called Miller Park until 2020.

American Family Field features North America's only fan-shaped convertible roof, which can open and close in less than 10 minutes. Large panes of glass allow natural grass to grow, augmented with heat lamp structures wheeled out across the field during the off-season.

The stadium opened in 2001 at a cost of $392 million. Between 1996 and 2020, taxpayers paid $609 million for the construction costs through higher sales taxes. In 2023, Wisconsin lawmakers entered into an agreement with the Milwaukee Brewers to spend nearly half a billion dollars of public funds on stadium renovations.

American Family Field was one of the largest construction projects in Wisconsin history. It was built with US$290 million of public funds from a 0.1% sales tax that began January 1, 1996, and ended on March 31, 2020. The tax was applied on purchases in Milwaukee County and four surrounding counties: Ozaukee, Racine, Washington, and Waukesha. The tax was controversial, in part because of the notion of using public funds for a privately owned sports team. The state senator who cast the deciding vote in the funding bill, George Petak of Racine, lost a recall election based on his vote for the stadium.

On November 9, 1996, groundbreaking took place in a parking lot behind County Stadium. Originally scheduled to open in 2000, American Family Field's construction was delayed after three construction workers were killed in an accident on July 14, 1999. A Lampson Transi-lift crane (nicknamed "Big Blue") brought in to build the roof collapsed while lifting a 450-ton roof section during windy conditions. A camera crew was filming construction of the stadium on that day and captured the collapse on video as it occurred. Repair work and an investigation forced the Brewers to stay in County Stadium for one more year, until 2001. There was some talk of having the Brewers move to American Family Field in the middle of 2000, but it was determined that too many issues would need to be resolved for it to be a realistic possibility.

The stadium was previously called Miller Park as part of a $40 million naming rights deal with Miller Brewing Company which expired at the end of 2020. Madison-based American Family Insurance purchased the naming rights in a new 15-year deal.

The unconventional fan-shaped retractable roof has not been without complications. Major elements of the pivot system behind home plate and the outfield roof track have been replaced, even after the crane incident.

At the end of the 2006 season, the roof's bogie system was replaced at a cost of over $13 million. The 10 new, 24-foot-long (7.3 m), 60 horsepower (45 kW) bogies were paid for with money from the settlement between the stadium district and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries of America. Six of the bogies weigh 66 short tons (59 long tons; 60 t), while the four others weigh 49 short tons (44 long tons; 44 t). The work was completed by lifting sections of the roof approximately 6 inches (15 cm) with Enerpac hydraulic lifts, while a 300-short-ton (270-long-ton; 270 t) crane replaced the bogies individually. "The bogies will last for the life of the facility," said Mike Duckett, executive director of the then named Miller Park stadium district. The project was completed by the start of the 2007 season.