The Milwaukee Brewers brand is an integral party of the city, with fans often proudly adorned in team gear from caps to jerseys.
And as of this week, the Brewers brand has been expanded in a most unusual way. Beginning Tuesday, the Brewers ball and glove logo is being stenciled on all potholes filled with equipment purchased by the Milwaukee Department of Public Works through a financial donation from the Brewers.
“We see a lot of potholes, and spring is the time to fix them,” Brewers President of Business Operations Rick Schlesinger said. He joked that he hoped drivers will “tread gingerly” over the Brewers-branded repaired potholes.
“We are indebted not only to all the citizens of the state who help promote and fund the ballpark, but to the great leadership of the people around me in making sure that the ballpark is the signature jewel that it is,” Schlesinger continued, with American Family Field visible in the distance. “And great fan support means we have to give back to our community, and this is a very small way of doing it, but hopefully a very noticeable way.”
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The troublesome potholes have become even more problematic in recent months due to the difficult, cold winter and heavy early-spring rains. “We’ve seen a noticeable rise in service requests from residents all over Milwaukee,” Mayor Cavalier Johnson said as DPW crews gathered on the West Side to fill potholes along a stretch of South 64th Street between West Main and West Adler streets.
The city has already resolved 4,200 requests for pothole repairs so far this year. Pothole service calls have exceeded 10,000 in the first four months of 2026, already topping the full-year totals for each of the previous two years, according to Kevin Muhs, the city’s top engineer.
“We saw a lot of freeze-thaw, some very deep cold followed by a very warm week in March, then a snowfall, and then after that, we saw a lot of rain. With the saturated soil we’ve had so far in April and then the additional surface flooding, we’ve really seen a significant surge in potholes,” Muhs said.
Pothole repairs are being prioritized, with higher volume streets and dangerous craters getting the most immediate attention.
A team-funded hot box trailer, adorned with the Brewers logo, will allow crews to work faster and safer and keep asphalt at a more optimum temperature for longer-lasting repairs. The trailer, the first of its kind for the city, allows for the use of hot-mix asphalt and better use of recycled asphalt, he said. It also permits workers to carry more material at once, which speeds up the repair process.
It totals a cost of $50,000 for the city, and was partially funded by a monetary gift of $27,500 from the Brewers, which the city’s Public Works Committee agreed to accept in February.
“We’re trying to do this as quickly as we can. We’re working extended hours and we’re also bringing in crews from across the DPW,” Muhs said. He explained there are currently 12 crews of two to four DPW workers filling potholes throughout the city, and estimated that it will take about a week to address pothole repair requests for major thoroughfares, with a far longer time frame for residential side streets.
Johnson and Schlesinger donned work vests and filled a few potholes on South 64th Street as well, with Schlesinger having the honor of being the first to spray paint the Brewers logo on one of the repaired ruts.
City officials urged residents to report problematic potholes by calling 414-286-CITY, visiting the website or using the MKE Mobile Action app.
