With the Padres playing a weekend series in Milwaukee and never having been there before, I decided to make a quick weekend trip to check out the city and American Family Field, formerly know as Miller Park (and what many of the Brewer fans still call it).

The ballpark is located just outside of downtown (it was about 4 miles from my hotel) and from doing some Googling before the trip, most people recommend staying downtown and then taking one of the many shuttles since there isn’t much to do in the area around the ballpark. I’m a big fan of ballparks being in downtown or areas where there is much to do around it but in the case of American Family Field, it’s isolated by itself as its right off the freeway and has primarily residential nearby and even those in the residential area have a bit of a walk to get to the ballpark.

Since many of these shuttles require a purchase at the establishment (i.e. buying a drink at the bar), I ended up taking Uber/Lyft from my hotel which wasn’t expensive ($10-$15 each way).

Getting to the ballpark is pretty easy and only took 10 minutes. I left at 5:40pm for a 6:35pm start time and from getting picked up at the hotel and getting dropped in the rideshare lot, it was only about a 10 minute drive and didn’t have any traffic on a Saturday night.

Now leaving the game is another matter as it reminds me of leaving Qualcomm Stadium and how it takes some time to leave because all the lots are funneling out to the same exits.

The one thing you noticed is tailgating is in full effect here as there are some expansive parking lots surrounding the ballpark:

And right in front of the ballpark as you walk towards the main entrance (it’s between the ballpark and the parking lots) is Helfaer Field, a little league-size field that can be used on non-gamedays:

Once inside the ballpark, I walked around the field and loge levels and noticed that the walkways are of a good size so it doesn’t feel crowded or congested or difficult to walk around.

I did notice that on the field level behind home plate they have suites so when you’re walking there you don’t have a view of the field. As well, you have to go around the suites to access seats in sections in front of the suites. For example, if you have seats in section 119-123 which are in front of the suites, you have to either access the seats from 118 or from 124, which both feed into a walkway that goes right in front of those suites to access seats in 119-124.

Similarly on the loge level, the press box blocks the view when in the walkway behind home plate. But throughout the rest of the field and loge levels, you have a view of the field as you walk around and I like that they have it set up for standing room only behind each section on both levels (unlike some ballparks like Petco Park that only have standing room on the field level).

Some people have mentioned how the ballpark is a little difficult to walk around and it does have a maze-like feel to it. On the field level, when I was walking around the ballpark and going from center field into left field, it abruptly ends and tells you to go up to the upper levels:

You have to look to the left of the team store to find a walkway to go continue on with the rest of the field towards third base and home plate:

As well on the loge level in right field, it just abrupty ends at section 201:

While in left field it ends in a private event area:

I do like that on the loge level near both foul poles they have unique food areas that include bar areas for drinks which makes these areas really become social areas to hang out and watch the game. On the left field foul pole, the have The Alley Food Truck Park:

Near the right field foul pole is the 3rd St. Market Hall Annex, which features vendors from the 3rd St. Market Hall in downtown Milwaukee:

A lot of people like the loge level at American Family Field as the view is a little more elevated so you can see plays happening a little more especially balls hit to the outfield. As well, the pricing is more reasonable here which along with the previously mentioned food/bar areas near the foul poles, make it a good place to watch the game.

On the field level, the have games for kids to play near the right field foul pole, with a larger selection of different games for kids to play than other ballparks. Below is just one section of games they have offered:

Besides the aforementioned food areas, the other food stands throughout the ballpark offer ballpark food that they advertise as being based on recipes from local restaurants:

This includes ballpark variations of local popular foods like cheese curds and frozen custard and these stands were repeated throughout the ballpark. That is, they would have a Burgers stand, Sausages stand, Chicken stand, etc and then repeat it again. The food itself was good for ballpark food and better than the generic stands that some ballparks have but I tend to like places that feature actual stands of unique/local food vendors i.e. if they had more of the unique food areas like on the loge level throughout the entire ballpark.

The new video screens in center field and right field that were installed for the 2024 season are both pretty large and clear though it was interesting they’re only 1080p screens. But the pictures were bright and clear (and didn’t seem to ber noticeably less clear than the 2K and 4K screens some other ballparks have) and provided good information on the game including video reviews when the Padres challenged and lost a video review.

From the seats, the views were pretty good as I saw a game with the roof open and then another game where they started closing the roof in the 2nd inning as a thunderstorm was coming. I had a good view on the field and loge levels and didn’t feel too far away with the exception of the loge level in the outfield which did feel like it was much further away. I didn’t get a chance to go to the club or upper levels as I’ve heard that the upper level seats feel really high and far away.

There isn’t a home plate club with premium seating like many other ballparks are doing, so you can get regular field level seats right behind home plate. On the field level they do check your tickets more than other ballparks as the ushers at each section check your tickets and they also know which rows haven’t been sold. For example the back few rows of section 125 weren’t sold for the second game of the series on Saturday and they were making people who sat there go to their actual seats.

Regardless of the roof being closed or open, the ballpark felt cavernous because of the beams and structure needed to support the roof along with the window panes in the outfield. The ballpark felt really big walking around and this isn’t the only one with a roof where I felt this way (Houston’s Daikin Park, Arizona’s Chase Field and Texas’ Globe Life Field all come to mind). As well, with the roof and the location where the ballpark is by itself, it makes the ballpark look really large and like a stadium where you just see it there the way you see football stadiums sticking out by themselves with nothing around them. Other ballparks, especially those in downtown, tend to have architecture and a look that blends in with their surroundings, with PNC Park being the best example of this.

One of the notable features is Bernie’s Slide where Bernie Brewer slides down a water park-like slide in left field after a Brewer hits a home run. I actually didn’t see Bernie Brewer sliding down since the only home run the Brewers hit in the series was the walk-off home run in game 2 of the series which had all the commotion of the crowd going crazy so I forgot to look up to see if he did the slide.

I would put American Family Field in my middle tier of ballparks as some of the other ballparks have better locations, good city views from the ballpark seats and some just do other things really well (variety of food, attractions around and in the ballpark like their hall of fame and other displays/attractions, the aesthetics of the ballpark, etc). Overall I enjoyed my time at American Family Field and I can see why Brewer fans really love their ballpark.