Milwaukee Brewers Baseball Club Financial Review (1994-2003) — MMAC
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The MMAC Milwaukee Brewers Financial Review (1994-2003) — a 20-page audit/financial review of the Milwaukee Brewers Baseball Club covering the decade 1994-2003. The audit period coincides with Bud Selig's tenure as owner of the Brewers from 1970 until 1998 (when he assumed the permanent Commissioner role and his daughter Wendy Selig-Prieb became Brewers chair). During the period covered, Selig led MLB through the 1994-95 strike, accepted the permanent Commissioner role in 1998, oversaw the $400M+ taxpayer-funded Miller Park construction (opened 2001, financed via a Wisconsin state sales tax surcharge), and the Brewers received substantial revenue-sharing payments as a small-market club. The audit was commissioned by Wisconsin authorities in part because of public concern about the Brewers' use of public funds for Miller Park while pleading financial hardship. Its findings on revenue, operating income, revenue-sharing receipts, debt service, and ownership distributions are an early publicly available 10-year financial review of an MLB franchise during the modern revenue-sharing era — a comparator to the 2010 Deadspin Marlins leak (also in this archive).
Background
Phase 1 wantlist hit cleared. Bud Selig owned the Brewers from 1970 until 1998 (when he became permanent Commissioner) — meaning during the period when MLB negotiated revenue sharing into the 1997 CBA, his own family's club was a structural beneficiary. The audit covers the financial record of that period. The same period in which Selig's MLB issued the 2000 Blue Ribbon Report (in this archive) describing a competitive-balance crisis and advanced the 2001 contraction proposal, the Brewers were operating as a revenue-sharing-recipient club with a publicly-financed stadium. Companion to the 2004 Milwaukee Brewers Limited Scope Review (also in this archive).
Key provisions
- Scope: 1994-2003 (10 years) financial review of the Milwaukee Brewers Baseball Club, L.P.
- Auditor: MMAC (specific firm to be identified in detailed content review).
- Commissioned by: Wisconsin authorities — partially in response to public-financing controversy around Miller Park.
- Period covered key events: Bud Selig's tenure as Brewers owner (until 1998); his transition to permanent Commissioner; Wendy Selig-Prieb as Brewers chair (1998 onward); Miller Park construction and opening (2001); the team's revenue-sharing-recipient status.
- Specific line items to extract in future content review: total revenue by year, revenue-sharing receipts (separated), club operating income, debt service, distributions to partners, capital expenditures, public-financing tracking.
Notable provisions
[Detailed content review deferred — 20-page audit with specific financial line items.]
Further context
MMAC Milwaukee Brewers Financial Review (1994-2003)
Phase 1 wantlist hit cleared. 20-page audit covering the Bud-Selig-as-owner / Selig-as-Commissioner transition era. Foundational franchise-finance document.
Why this matters
The 1994-2003 audit period is exactly the decade during which:
- Selig led MLB through the 1994-95 strike
- Took the permanent Commissioner role (1998)
- Secured the taxpayer-funded Miller Park ($400M+ public, opened 2001)
- His own Brewers were a revenue-sharing recipient
The audit was commissioned because of public concern about Brewers' use of public funds while pleading financial hardship. The specific revenue and operating-income line items will surface the structural conflict in detail.
Related documents
2004_report_milwaukee-brewers-limited-scope-review.md— companion 27-page review.2010-08-24_report_marlins-leaked-financial-statements.md— later parallel for the Marlins.
References
- Primary source: sabr.box.com — MMAC (auditor) / Wisconsin authorities, retrieved 2026-05-17.
- Confirmation source: sabr.box.com — Society for American Baseball Research (SABR), Business of Baseball Files. SABR-hosted Box link. 20-page audit. **Note**: User also uploaded a separate file 'Brewers audit, 2004' which is **bit-identical** (same SHA256 834bd84323f078ae) — the SABR catalog lists them under two different filenames but they are the same document.
- File fingerprint: SHA256 834bd84323f078ae5dab36588c6e26425698336fd055104f5eeb82aa7118aaf6.
Evidence trail
Per archive editorial standards §1.3 and §1.4, verified documents require two independent confirmation sources and an archive.org snapshot. This panel is the integrity record the archive holds for this document.
File integrity
- SHA256
834bd84323f078ae5dab36588c6e26425698336fd055104f5eeb82aa7118aaf6- Filename
2004_report_mmac-milwaukee-brewers-1994-2003.pdf- Format
- PDF · 20 pp · 598 KB
- Retrieved
- 2026-05-17 by
claude/cowork-9167cb28 (uploaded by alex) - Primary URL
- https://sabr.box.com/s/xch05w02694jf00l60e40rdyuxo3x9hm
Confirmation sources (1)
| Publisher | Retrieved | URL | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Society for American Baseball Research (SABR), Business of Baseball Files | 2026-05-17 | https://sabr.box.com/s/xch05w02694jf00l60e40rdyuxo3x9hm | SABR-hosted Box link. 20-page audit. **Note**: User also uploaded a separate file 'Brewers audit, 2004' which is **bit-identical** (same SHA256 834bd84323f078ae) — the SABR catalog lists them under two different filenames but they are the same document. |
Most recent status change
needs_review on 2026-05-19 by claude/cowork-fidelity-audit-2026-05-19.
Pass B rename: 2004_audit_mmac-milwaukee-brewers-1994-2003 → 2004_report_mmac-milwaukee-brewers-1994-2003 (doctype). NAMING.md §2.1 compliance. Old filename preserved in file.previous_filenames. No status change.