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be happier about
That means yes.
Baseball is coming.
Warm weather is hopefully following.
But if you're in Ampham Field, it doesn't matter what the weather outside is because inside it's always lovely.
Let's talk a little baseball because things are cooking.
Brewers president of business operations.
Rick Schlesinger joins us.
He's entering his 23rd season with the Brewers.
He is 7th in this position.
He oversees all the business operations that the Brewers have.
He oversees the field in Phoenix, everything.
Eddie's here with us now.
Rick, thanks for being here.
We appreciate it and we are so excited that pitchers and catchers are reporting today.
Yeah, thanks for having me on.
It's always fun when we.
go through a really cold winter to start thinking baseball and spring training and, you know, the season will start before you know it on March 26th.
That'll be a, that'll be a nice opening weekend.
Um, let's start here, uh, Rick, because there was a big announcement recently that brewers games this year are going to be broadcast on MLB instead of fan dual Wisconsin.
What went into that deal and how is that going to change the fan experience for viewing the Brewer games?
Sure, you know, we, we just had some uncertainties about FanDuel and their situation going into the 2026 season.
And, you know, we couldn't wait any longer to see if that their situation would be resolved.
So we made the decision on January 31 to switch to MLB media, joining 15 other clubs.
And for the average fan, they won't notice any difference.
They'll still be available to watch all the live brewers games on cable, on satellite, and a streaming service, just a different package.
Instead of going to FanDuel for your streaming, you'll go to MLB and brewers.com, and they will provide you with all the details on how to buy the streaming subscription.
And again, if you watched the cable last year or watched on satellite, you'll watch it the same, maybe a different channel.
But we're going to have about 145 games.
And so the average fan won't notice any difference.
I think the production quality will be better.
We're excited to partner with baseball.
And again, we wanted certainty for the fans and no interruption in the games.
And that's why we made the switch when we did.
Yeah, no, I mean obviously every every dollar is precious and we look to you know generate revenue where we can and television revenues are important And it's sort of an interesting and it's somewhat of a challenging ecosystem for media these days as everybody knows who's in the business but for our purposes the most important goal was to make sure that our fans had wide access to our live games and
because of our relationship with MLB, this is possible.
I think the future of television will be very different.
I think there'll be more national packages, so you'll see more games on national packages.
Relatively, you're going to be able to get every game that the viewers play on some kind of device and some kind of service.
Cable and satellite aren't dead.
They're slowly eroding, but they're not dead.
They're still a real big source of eyeballs for us.
But streaming obviously is the future and we want to make sure our games are successful and affordable packages for everybody.
Yeah, if you're in Wisconsin, it's very easy.
Even if you're outside the state, if you're a Brewer's fan who lives in Utah,
or Colorado, you are able to go to ESPN Unlimited and MLB.TV and access all the Brewers games.
So regardless of where you are as a Brewers fan, you're going to be able to get those games live on your device.
All right, let's talk a little baseball here because Rick Schlesinger, Brewer's president of business operations, joining us entering his 23rd season.
We mentioned that pitchers and catchers report today.
You guys have been super busy already in this off season.
The trade of Caleb Durbin and Andrew Montestario, we just learned about that.
I'm sure there's going to be some other roster moves down the road, but how are some of these moves going to shape the overall team and the depth this season and what you guys are feeling?
and going into training camp?
Yeah, I think, you know, you look at what Matt and Arnold and his baseball operations staff have done over the last several years and you really got to admire what they've done.
There has been moves that some people have scratched their heads about or have not really understood and they've worked out quite well.
It doesn't mean you're going to, you know, bat a thousand every one of your trades or acquisitions.
But, you know, the one thing we know about this game is pitchers are key.
And the more pitching depth you have, the better you're able to sustain injuries and just poor performances.
And the reality is, you know, we're building a rotation with some great live arms, both, you know, Woodruff and Mr. Rowski, Priester, Chad Patrick, as well as some guys in the minors who are really ready to step up and join the rotation.
But I'm really confident what Matt's doing.
And again, you know, we're the
three-time defending NL central champs.
One of the most games of baseball last year, but he has some unfinished business.
The season ended abruptly against the Dodgers.
We want to progress, get to the World Series, win the World Series.
So, you know, I'm pretty confident in Matt's ability.
And there's certainly other transactions between now and opening day.
That is, they're going for history this year to try to win the fourth.
No, teams just don't do that.
That's great.
But the question that if I don't ask this, and I know this really is a Matt Arnold question, but if I don't ask it, people will be hammering me all day.
Who's going to play third base?
Well, we did acquire a guy, Hamilton, from the Red Sox, who certainly can play there.
We've got some interesting opportunities for guys who have experience in third base.
And again, member between now and opening day, there's still a lot of time to make sure.
I feel pretty confident that we'll have a third baseman.
That's good.
It's good.
And it may be a couple of guys, but yeah, I never count Matt Arnold and his team out when they make these deals because they're always playing chess.
And you know, the thinking four moves ahead.
So I am very confident that when we started on March 26 against the White Sox at home, it's going to be a heck of a lineup.
And you mentioned some of the players from the minors.
You mentioned the Miz who became a fan favorite last year.
Everybody was so excited about him.
Are there any young players or prospects that we should be keeping an eye on that you guys are really excited about right now?
Yeah, I mean, I think the games that people talk about are Jesus Madé, who's a phenomenal player, Cooper Pratt, who's extremely great defensive player already in the minors, who's bat will come around.
And then the whole slew of young pitchers that we acquired in the last couple of trades.
Jesus Madé is sort of, you know, a phenom.
He's really young.
I don't expect him to be in the majors this year, but he's still a teenager.
can't legally drink and won't be able to drink for a while.
But I think this is a guy who's going to have a potential superstar written all over him.
And I definitely expect him in Milwaukee very, very soon.
Again, maybe in 27 or 28.
But yeah, the pharmacist was ranked number one by almost every publication in baseball.
And it's a testament to all the hard work that our baseball operations staff does both domestically and internationally and signing guys from all over the world.
He is, of course, the Brewer's president of business operations.
We talked about how people can watch the Brewer's games on their devices, on their TVs, but we really want people in the seats.
Tomorrow's a big day, Rick.
Single game tickets go on sale tomorrow at 10.
People just go to mlb.com slash brewers, right, by their tickets or brewers.com.
Yeah brewers.com is the easiest place to go It's a couple of clicks and starting tomorrow at 10 a.m.
Single-game tickets will go on sale We've obviously been selling season ticket packages and even night packages already But yeah, this is sort of a big milestone when the individual games go on sale because it's you know fans fans like to pick and choose which games then claims teams they want to see and The schedule is a really good one for us this year in terms of good opponents a lot of American League opponents and a good mix
So, yeah, we expect a lot of sales tomorrow starting at 10 a.m.
Yeah, well, I always, you know, I'm at every game.
So, you know, it becomes sort of every game's highlighted.
But obviously the Cubs series, when we play them, we have two series against them.
And Yankees come into town, and like I said, a good slew of Italy games.
But our division has gotten very interesting.
The pirates have been really stacking up.
They've been spending money and bringing some really good players.
The Reds are always a wild card.
They can be really good or struggle.
Cardinals probably would tell you they're sort of rebuilding.
But again, it's going to be a wide open division.
Cubs are a key element here.
As we all know, it's the rivalry.
It's a bitter rivalry.
uh, magnified by, you know, our epic five game, uh, series in the playoffs last year.
So, you know, for me, I'm at every game.
I would love to see everybody had come to every game, but I realized people have lives and jobs.
And it's not always, you know, they're not getting paid to watch baseball games like I am.
But, uh, yeah, it's going to be a great schedule because, you know, we have more interleague games every other year.
Every American League team comes and plays Milwaukee, which is great.
We can see some stars from the other league.
So a good slew of American League opponents this year.
Yeah, so we've got a number of projects coming online.
We have done the kids play area on the field level.
It's called the Glove Playground by Aurora Healthcare.
Some brand new features for kids.
a complete new experience, new Bernie's slide, a sausage race opportunity game.
So that's always fun.
And then in the summer, we're going to open up the UW Credit Union Plaza behind Center Field outside, which is going to feature a beer garden, a stage for live music, mini golf, a play area.
And that's just phase one.
Phase two will be more integrated food areas.
We're upgrading our food selections at the Alley Food Truck and Third Treat Market Hall.
And yeah, a lot of bobbleheads, giveaways, theme nights.
We probably have 30 dates that are either a heritage night, a theme night, or a giveaway.
So there's a lot of reasons to come to the ballpark besides watching the purers.
Now, obviously, you mentioned you're at every game.
You watch games in a little different perspective than the fans, Rick.
But do you have a favorite game day event or something that you really look forward to when you're there watching a game, something that you just enjoy every single time and you never get tired of?
Yeah, usually when we win, that's a good game day event that I feel happy about and go home and drive home happy.
You know, I'm not that superstitious, but I generally don't sit when I'm watching the games.
I'm doing a lot of piecing or walking around.
We obviously have, you know, guests that we want to say hello to
and
sponsors and things like that.
So I'm usually kind of a little antsy and a little bit anxious just because.
You know, I'm a passionate British fan.
You have to be to work in this game.
And I try to be social to people, but you know, I'm watching the games.
Don't talk to me right now.
I'm happy.
Yeah.
Don't talk to me.
We could talk after the game before the game.
But during the game, I'm not always the most pleasant person, but it's just because I'm passionate.
All right now
He's the president of business operation for the Brewers There's people who are like that is the dream job work around baseball all the time and it's got it sounds like it is but there has to be other than the fact that it's a long schedule there has to be some Some little downfall we got about ten seconds.
What's the what's the one downside that people wouldn't believe?
That would say, you know, the hours you have to commit.
You're going to be working during the season.
Get in the office at 9 a.m.
and not leaving until 11 p.m.
and you have 10 game homestands.
It's a lot of time.
listening to Civic Media Network.
This is Civic Media Mornings.
And I'm Brian Noonan, and I'm in a better mood now because we talked a little baseball with Rick Schlesinger.
That is excellent.
And a reminder, you can listen to Brewer's games all along the network as the season begins.
But listen, Jamie, this is our senior producer, Frank's least favorite segment of the program.
That's why I want to milk it for as long as I can.
The Olympics are happening, and I'm invested.
All right, here's a thing.
You can answer this at 855-75 Civic, 855-752-4842.
Frank made a point yesterday, he said, do you watch any of these sports outside of the Olympics?
And no,
But does that matter because it's the Olympics?
And I say it's no, what say you?
Give us a holler and tell us if you're watching the Olympics, what you're watching for because yesterday, man,
disappointment, yet still excitement.
Yes.
A lot of great stuff happening.
You know, I've been, you know, I've been taken by the Cori's, the partners from Duluth and Curling who were playing against Sweden for the gold medal yesterday.
And just like their play in game to get to the gold medal game, it came down to the last
slide of the stone.
Unfortunately, Sweden this time had the last slide and they beat them.
But this is, it doesn't matter.
Corey Thiessen is the first woman to ever earn an Olympic medal in curling.
So congratulations to the Corey's for their silver and the Luth curling club for supporting.
That was very exciting.
Stop it Frank Frank.
I watched I watched USA versus Canada ladies hockey yesterday Let me tell you something about those women.
They are hitting.
They're not play.
Don't you think it's a camaraderie that you feel and a pride that you feel watching your country and all of these athletes put it all on the line?
And people get excited about that because we all have that competitive streak in us a little bit, even if we don't want to admit it.
And we should all have a little
My goodness.
The one sport that last night, we were watching the Olympics for a few minutes.
I took a little bit of a break and I was in the living room and I sat down and we were watching speed skating.
And it was a relay speed skating event.
Yes.
And my husband goes, what is happening right now?
He's like, there's three lanes of people going in a circle.
I said, it's a relay.
So watch.
I said, they're going to push off.
And he goes,
they they but push he's like what is happening he's like I don't understand any of what's happening so I get it but you gotta
to
But on his helmet, he has pictures of athletes that were killed during the war in Ukraine.
And originally, the IOC said, you can't wear that.
And he said, well, IOC, you can go, I'm wearing it.
And he has worn it, and it is very moving.
And listen, if you're a skeleton racer,
They should be worried just about the fact that your body could explode
on
person is
More action tonight.
Watch the Olympics.
Not you, Frank, because we know you've been on it.
You're listening to Civic Media, the Civic Media Network.
Good morning and thank you so much for joining us.
This is Civic Media Mornings on the Civic Media Network.
If you want to get in on the conversation today, 1-855-752-4842.
1-855-755-CIVIC.
I am Jamie Martinson.
I'm Brian Noonan.
We were talking about the Olympics in the last segment and Brian and Warsaw texted in, as Jamie said, you can too.
This is not to admonish Frank on his hockey fandom.
Brian says, I'm a hockey fan.
Only Olympic sport I watch.
outside of the Olympics.
I don't watch men's hockey in the Olympics because I still feel pro should play.
And I thought backflips weren't allowed in amateur figure skating.
When did that change?
I think somebody had done one.
A woman had done one
a while
I don't know why, like that sticks in my brain.
And now I sound like, oh, Brian must watch figure skating all the time.
Nope, about seven minutes every four years.
But I sound like I know what I'm doing.
Listen, I'll reference a saw cow.
I'll go back to the swirling camel camel.
I'll do it
I honestly we have so many things happening right now at on the civic media network that I have not gotten a chance to sit down and absorb them as much as I normally do but
In years past, it has been up until two, three in the morning just watching the competition.
Parker, you're nodding because I think that's why you got less sleep last night because you were watching the Olympics, isn't it?
Partially.
Okay.
All right.
Well, we don't want to know what the depravity that you were doing after the Olympics.
So we won't ask about that.
We'll just move on.
I
And let me be real, I'm not holding out hope for much more than this.
But he obviously says that the administration, the Trump administration needs to reconsider that denial of the relief from that August 1000 year flood.
FEMA has actually turned down the state's $26.5 million request for six different counties, even though the administration approved a separate $29.8 million grant for homeowners in some areas.
We talked about this a little bit yesterday.
If you joined us on the program, Governor
Evers appealed that denial.
He warned that the rebuilding cost could actually fall on local taxpayers.
Boss is now saying that the state might step in if needed.
He stresses, though, that this is the primary responsibility of the federal government.
It is
And Evers says that they're going to keep pushing for federal aid while helping communities in the meantime.
There is a bipartisan state disaster aid bill that has been proposed to help FEMA...
If FEMA denies these requests, it's not past the full legislature, though, as of right now.
The White House is saying that disaster requests are carefully reviewed and that the federal aid is meant to supplement, not replace state and local efforts.
Again, the federal government not really understanding what their actual role
is
in supporting the states, even though they like to scream at us about states' rights and how states should be more involved and be able to do their...
have their own functioning governments, but when it comes down to what the federal government actually is responsible for, it seems like they missed that day in civics class of how this actually works.
and the
This is the kind of thing you can use it for.
It's not an ongoing project that will deplete the entire surplus.
You can set aside a chunk and say, this is for disaster relief.
And then you just keep hammering that
We have to dip into the state's money because the federal government is not helping us, which they are supposed to do.
And now Robin Voss wouldn't do that, but that's where the Democrats would just hammer, hammer, hammer and say, we had to use your money because the administration would not help us.
I don't know
I want to be wrong because there is a lot of infrastructure to rebuild from that flooding.
There are a lot of homeowners, businesses that were affected by that, so I'm hoping I'm wrong.
I don't see a lot of movement, but I feel like this is something that's absolutely crucial
for those six counties and the residents, business owners.
And so we'll we'll see where this ends up, but it doesn't give this legislature a lot of time if they are planning on gaveling out on on next next Thursday.
Now, you mentioned a little bit of a surplus, right?
Robin Boss has also made a little bit of news yesterday.
Yeah, it was a busy day for him.
But of course, in this flurry of activity, you've got to you got to keep churning things through, Brian, like they
It is kind of like the speed skating track.
So he is saying now that he's willing to negotiate with Governor Evers on property taxes.
He's making headlines for being a sitting legislature willing to compromise.
Wild and wacky times that we live in.
We've talked a little bit at length on this program about this partisan divide over property taxes and that 400-year veto that
the governor used to basically get property taxes and that $325 per student credit and all of that, right?
Well, now Robin Voss is stepping back from an earlier demand that any new property tax relief plan would include a repeal of Governor Evers' so-called 400-year veto.
Voss is saying that they're a bipartisan deal to reduce property taxes could come as soon as this week.
So hopefully those discussions
ongoing because the veto repeal would have to wait until after the November midterm elections.
He's emphasizing that providing relief to homeowners right now is the top priority as it should be, right?
Because property taxes in this state, school referendums, it's all getting to be too much for several cities.
Now, Governor Evers, his office is saying that any property tax relief plan has to still make sure that schools are going to get the funding they've been promised in the state budget.
Republicans' decision to leave the revenue increases in place really contrasts with GOP gubernatorial candidate Tom Tiffany, though, who has made repealing the veto a central part of his campaign.
So now we have the state legislative GOP at odds with their front runner for the governor.
And at some point they're going to snap into line because that's what the GOP always does.
Right.
Is there any question that that's going to happen?
No, no, not at all.
Right.
It's.
Let's be realistic for a second.
Robin boss is not a stupid man, right?
He's been the speaker of the house for what 13 years?
I believe 13 is where we're at somewhere in there.
Somebody correct me if I'm wrong.
But at the same time, he also knows that this partial veto power is very important for a GOP governor as well as a Democratic governor.
So he's going to hedge his bets, I feel like here.
The Democrats have seven candidates currently vying for the top spot to become the front runner.
And I feel like maybe this is Robin Voss a little bit.
This is just my take.
Maybe hedging his bets just a little bit.
That maybe the Republicans right now in the gubernatorial race would have a titch of an edge.
And he isn't going to rock the boat.
And he's not going to take the partial veto away from his own party.
if that were something to come to fruition in election season, right?
I mean, he's a calculating individual.
Let's put it like that.
One
I don't know if it is, because the state legislature, as we've been discussing this morning, is really in this last hour trying to end their session by next Thursday, which means they'd have that nine month break.
So are they really trying to move on property tax relief, or are they just kind of kicking the can down the road to see what happens in an election cycle?
That's what I feel like at this
Now, there were some emails from a February 5th meeting as well that showed Evers offering a compromise, $200 million for special education, $450 million for general school aides in 2027, $550 million for property tax relief through the school levy tax credit, $97 million to accept taxes on cash tips.
And both parties right now are saying they would use part of that $2.5 billion surplus.
for some sort of fund relief.
And Voss's Republicans have been negotiating with Evers for weeks to create some sort of bipartisan package that could potentially pass both chambers and be signed into law, which, you know, if that's what happens and it's good for Wisconsin homeowners and the school system and education and they're still funding, then I'm all for it.
But I just, again, hedging bets.
That's kind of what I feel like is happening.
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And she wanted to note that it's important to understand, or at least the way she understood it, this veto we talk about when it comes to this 400-year veto, does it require an increase of money every year?
It actually allows the school districts to put it to
taxpayers to vote to implement the increase and I went over to the Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty because yes you
would be shocked that I have a subscription over there.
But Wisconsin school districts are not legally required to raise their property tax levy to the maximum allowed limit every single year.
A lot of them have to, though, to cover operational costs because of the state imposed revenue limits and the flat state rate.
Now, the state allows for annual revenue increases like that $325 per pupil allowance that's extended through 24-25, the 400-year veto thing.
districts can choose whether to levy that amount, and that's when they have to go to voter approval via referendum for any increase above the cap.
So that's, I believe, what Tiffany is referring to.
If that's not Tiffany,
text in and I will I will have the answer for you tomorrow morning because you know I love nothing more than a good challenge on these things but that's how I'm understanding it so yes if you're going to go above 325 cap you have to take it to a referendum and the school district does not does not have to raise it every single year so that is that is how I understand the law at this point
Look at
Sometimes this is why I like places like the Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty because they lay it out in a lot of plain terms.
So there is that option too.
So sometimes if you just read really closely, you can figure it out.
And let's be realistic, some of these laws are made that it makes even attorneys scratch their head and go, huh, how does this actually
there
I
So what they're showing in these photos is that you take your little nuggy and then you put the creme on top of it and then you put the caviar with your mother pearl spoon on top and then you have like a nice little appetizer and they're sharing it over a box of McDonald's fries in these photos with silver plates.
Oh
to
Network.
Talk to you tomorrow.
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