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Brewers get new owners

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The search for the next owner of the Milwaukee Brewers appears to be over. One of two finalists to purchase the ball club, Michigan businessman Dan Gilbert, announced Monday his negotiations to buy the team were terminated last week.

“I am deeply disappointed that the Brewers have chosen another direction in the sale of the club,” Gilbert said in a statement. “After nearly eight long months of negotiations, I believed we were on the verge of announcing a deal when I was informed of the Brewers’ decision to sell the team to another party.”

The Brewers’ loss of interest in Gilbert, who founded home-mortgage company Quicken Loans, likely paves the way for Los Angeles investor Mark Attanasio to become the club’s new owner. The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported Monday Attanasio reached agreement with the club last week on a deal worth more than $180 million.

Attanasio’s emergence concludes an eight-month search for new Brewers ownership, though the team cannot move to another market for some time because of a licensing contract at Miller Park resulting from a sales-tax subsidy in the Milwaukee area. Team chairman Wendy Selig-Prieb announced in January the debt-riddled club would go on sale, effectively ending the 34-year relationship between the Brewers and the Selig family. Selig-Prieb’s father, Bud Selig, headed an ownership group that brought the Seattle Pilots to Milwaukee in 1970. Selig handed day-to-day control of the ball club to his daughter upon being named Major League Baseball’s commissioner in 1998.

Many view the exit of the Seligs as a step in the right direction for the Brewers as they wrap up their 12th-straight losing season.

University of Wisconsin journalism professor and baseball fan James Baughman believes Attanasio will provide a needed financial boost to the club, which is operating with the lowest payroll in the majors this year.

“They need somebody with deep pockets, and [Attanasio] has deep pockets,” Baughman said. “The problem with the Brewers is that they’ve been reluctant to spend money. [Attanasio] will change that.”

The Brewers referred calls Monday to New York attorney Steve Greenberg, who was not available for comment.

Although the Brewers are located in one of the major league’s smallest markets, Baughman pointed to the recent success of the Minnesota Twins and Oakland Athletics to prove the club can field a competitive team.

“It’s really turned around because you can’t call poverty with Minnesota and Oakland excelling,” said Baughman, a lifelong fan of the mid-market Cleveland Indians. “Smart scouting makes a difference, even for small-market teams, as [Oakland general manager] Billy Beane has shown.”

A more competitive team on the field would reawaken dormant fans, Baughman added. The Brewers improved attendance figures at Miller Park during a surprisingly strong start this season, but a prolonged post-All-Star break slide in the standings has dropped fan turnout to customary low levels.

UW sophomore Andy Porubcan expressed preference for a Midwestern-based owner like Gilbert but said any ownership change will pay dividends for the club.

“We’ve been losing for over a decade — [the Brewers] can’t do any worse,” Porubcan said.

“The change needed to happen because the Brewers can’t attract big-name free agents right now,” UW student Jason Levin added.

The reported $180 million selling price for the Brewers seems fair, Baughman said, noting a similar price tag for the recently sold Anaheim Angels.

The Angels aren’t a bad team to emulate, either: the long-suffering Southern California franchise won the World Series in 2002. Perhaps, with new ownership, the long-stagnant Brewers can experience a similar turnaround.