The Milwaukee Brewers provided a first glimpse of American Family Field’s new colossal scoreboard on Monday.
The 12,077-square-foot centerfield scoreboard is double the size of the old board. A new 2,860-square-foot display also has been added in the upper section of right field. Both scoreboards feature 8mm LED pixel pitch resolution, which is the highest resolution of any scoreboard among all major league stadiums. There are also new LED displays above the first- and third-base dugouts.
With mascot Bernie Brewer leading the ceremony, the scoreboards were switched on for a gathering of media members at the ballpark in advance of the Brewers home opener on April 2 against the Minnesota Twins.
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“I think it’s going to be really impactful for our fans, our sponsors and our players as they enjoy all the opportunities and things we can do with the new boards,” Brewers President of Business Operations Rick Schlesinger said. “It’s a transformational experience for the ballpark to have this kind of LED experience.”
The scoreboards come at a cost of $12 million to $14 million, which includes upgraded control room equipment, according to Schlesinger.
“There’s a lot of technology that goes into the scoreboard control room to activate and operate all the systems,” he said. “You can’t operate this kind of equipment with old-school technology.”
The Brewers have also hired a new executive director of in-game presentation as well as additional staff.
“This is so much more sophisticated. You need a lot more people to operate it,” Schlesinger said. “Our scoreboard staff has definitely been upgraded both in numbers and experience to make sure we’re fully utilizing the boards.”
The main display will be among the largest scoreboards of any baseball stadium, with full-screen edge-to-edge coverage. The board will be the fifth largest in any major-league stadium. The scoreboard at Citi Field, home of the New York Mets, is the largest at 17,400 square feet.
The American Family Field scoreboard projects were completed on time on within budget, Schlesinger said.
“What we are trying to do is make the experience great for every type of fan that comes here,” he said. “Fans love video, they love crowd prompts, statistics, highlights. We’re going to be able to accommodate all of that. We are going to try to address the needs of all fans the best we can. There are hard-core fans that probably aren’t going to come to more games because of the boards, but there are casual fans who are going to be excited about this and enjoy the experience. It’s part of the overall goal to make the in-game experience top-notch.”
The new scoreboards are part of an overall effort to make the games more exciting and interesting and ultimately lead to a boost in attendance, Schlesinger said.
The right-field scoreboard will be used for a variety of purposes in conjunction with the massive main display.
“It’ll have some statistical content that we don’t want to overload the center-field display with,” Schlesinger said. “We’ll have videos and sponsor images. We’ll be able to do a lot of things with it. The goal here is to try to get content up without taking away from the center-field display.”
The scoreboards will also be used for other events at American Family Field beyond baseball, including concerts, depending on the stage setup, Schlesinger said.
Removal of the old scoreboard began shortly after the 2023 season ended in October with construction of the new scoreboards starting immediately after.
“We activated cranes and equipment to delicately take the old panels down,” Schlesinger said. “Then we had to do some reinforced steel with the new board. In right field, we had to put new steel up because there was never a board location there. There was a lot of work that had to be done to make sure we didn’t damage the field.”
The Brewers had inquiries from other venues that were interested in using or acquiring the old scoreboard, but replacement parts for it are nearly impossible to come by and most of its LED components were “on their last legs,” Schlesinger said.
“The reality is you can’t service the board,” he said.
The new scoreboards are part of many added amenities at American Family Field for the coming season that also include expanded food and beverage offerings and a major revamping of the Brewers Team Store.
The store has been expanded and reconfigured to offer a variety of new products and increased ease for the shopping along with a streamlined check-out process.
