2025 Milwaukee Brewers Payroll May Drop Due To New Broadcasting Deal

Earlier this week, it was announced that the Brewers would not be renewing their contract with Diamond Sports Group, the parent company of Bally Sports Wisconsin. Instead, MLB will be taking over the broadcast, offering a blackout-free streaming option to fans in the local area. 

Unlike buying popcorn at the movie theater, this seems a pretty good deal for fans. It’s a centralized way to view Milwaukee baseball and finally addresses the dreaded blackouts that have plagued Iowa residents for far too long. So what’s the catch? Well, if precedent is anything to go off of, Milwaukee is definitely going to have lighter pockets in 2025. 

The Minnesota Twins have ended up in the same boat at a more gradual pace. After their contract with Bally Sports expired at the end of the 2023 season they cut their payroll by $30 million, about half of the roughly $60 million they received annually from DSG. They later renewed their contract with Bally for a significantly smaller payout and, like the Brewers, will now be one of the several teams whose rights are entirely handled by MLB.

The Padres and Diamondbacks had their fair share of contractual issues with DSG, and rather than renewing for another year, both teams offered their own in-market packages through MLB.TV in 2024. The in-market Padres streaming package costs $100 per season, and it was reported that Padres had about 40,000 subscribers. Suppose my calculator app is to be trusted. In that case, they generated a measly $4 million in revenue, enough to pay for almost three whole beers at Petco Park but not enough to finance a shiny new free agent or lengthy extension.

The question then becomes: Will the Brewers cut spending further, or have they done that already? Total payroll allocations went down by approximately $16 million from 2023 to 2024, but was that in anticipation of this move or just the result of natural fluctuations in the budget? When asked about the topic, general manager Matt Arnold stated something along the lines of “I don’t know, not my circus,”* something I often say when asked about the business hours of my local carnival. 

*not Matt Arnold's actual quote, editorial paraphrasing by us

As things currently stand, Milwaukee already had a total 2025 payroll allocation of $112.7 million before finalized arbitration salaries. $10.5 million of that could be saved by rejecting the team option for Devin Williams, but there’s not much room to trim payroll without starting to surrender postseason equity.

On the bright side, Brewers' attendance has been quite robust, totaling 2.5 million in 2024. It has been growing steadily and was at just 1.8 million for the 2021 season, something the front office could and should capitalize on. If they choose to maintain or increase spending this year, they'd take a bigger financial hit in the short term and hope that the team's positive momentum leads to more streaming revenue and even more money spent on beers and bratwursts.

Another complication of this whole streaming debacle is that Bally Sports Wisconsin still holds the rights to broadcast Milwaukee Bucks games, so if you want to watch Bobby Portis and the other guys on that team hoop, you’ll still be tied to their offerings. If you want to watch both the end of the Bucks' season and the start of the Brewers', you’ll be forced to purchase both streaming options.

From a pure viewer standpoint, this is a good move, even if it means roster construction is hamstrung over the next few years. Given the organization's historic fiscal practices, fans might not even notice a difference. Unfortunately for me, this probably means Milwaukee won't be offering Joey Gallo that $100 million contract I hoped he would be getting this offseason**.

**this isn't a real thing anyone wants