Beer lovers link baseball with suds, not insurance

Insurance is better than beer. Not.

Madison, Wisconsin-based American Family Insurance Co. will replace Miller Brewing Co. as the naming sponsor of the Milwaukee Brewers ballpark in a 15-year deal that will begin in 2021. Financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed, but the Milwaukee-based beer company secured the original naming rights to Miller Park at a cost of just over $40 million.

This isn’t the insurer’s first foray into sports marketing. In 2014, it aired a commercial during Super Bowl XLVIII and sponsors an annual PGA seniors tour event. The insurer, which has about 3,500 of its approximately 11,300 employees based in Madison, also sponsors University of Wisconsin events and facilities and a gate at Lambeau Field, home of the Green Bay Packers.

"We were joking earlier that this is the biggest news since the Chorizo was added to the sausage race," American Family CEO Jack Salzwedel was quoted as saying by the La Crosse Tribune.

But baseball fans reacting on social media were less than enthused about the name change, with one fan tweeting that “nothing says ‘baseball totally isn't tedious or boring’ like switching the naming rights for Miller Park from beer to insurance” while another Twitter user stated that “banks and insurance companies sponsoring everything is terrible. I like beer and hate dealing with insurance companies.”