{image1} Dear Mr. Cuban,

I am writing you this letter for the third time in two years on behalf of Brewers' fans. This time, however, there has been a major change. The franchise is now for sale. We are desperate for an owner that would be committed to running a Major League franchise the correct way.

I could have chosen anyone to write this letter to, but I have seen what you have done with the Dallas Mavericks, and I am convinced the same can be done here in Milwaukee. In fact, the Brewers are probably in a better situation than were the Mavs when you took over in 1998.

Debits and Credits

First and foremost, we already have a state of the art facility that is being completely paid for the fans and has about 26 years left on its lease.

The stadium is also located in an undeveloped area with a lot of upside. If the dilapidated factories, mills and slaughterhouses could be knocked down, Miller Park could be connected with The Potowanomi Casino by various shops, bars and restaurants. As you may well know, a few things folks from Wisconsin like to do include drinking, eating and gambling.

If this land surrounding the stadium were developed it would only add value to a franchise. It can only go up, anyway. As it stands today, Harley Davidson may begin this process by building its multi-million dollar museum in the eastern portion of the valley.

Also, the franchise has made some headway on the rebuilding front. The Brewers have one of the better farm systems in MLB and have the talent order to begin reshaping this team. The farm system had three MVPs: Lou Palmisano (Rookie), Prince Fielder (Low A) and Corey Hart (Double AA). They also had two teams reach their respective Championship series, Huntsville and Beloit. (More can be read here)

What the Brewers own as far as financial gain and assets is not the reason why you should consider buying this team. I can't to tell you that if you dropped the $200 million it would take to buy the Brewers that you would ever make a penny. In fact, history has proven that it would take a miracle.

What I can tell you is that there is plenty of room to build a franchise that could not have been more mismanaged over the course of the last 20 years. The intangibles for a miracle are in place. When baseball's economics began to change, the Brewers began to backpeddle. Instead of trying to move with the changes that were crushing small-market teams, the Brewers decided to feel sorry for themselves and the digging began.

Things began to get better last year only to blow up in all of our faces with the Ulice Payne fallout and the opening of the Brewers' financial records to an independent state audit. It seemed that the only thing that could get this franchise completely turned around would be for the Seligs to sell the team. Last Thursday, my prayers were answered.

The Fans are Ready

Almost two million people came out to Miller Park last year to watch a team that finished 26 games under .500. The people were not coming out to still see the new ballpark, they were coming out to see a team that made a 12-game improvement and an attitude change the winning percentage cannot measure.

The Brewers, even as awful as they still were, became something the folks around Milwaukee began to take pride in. That is something that has not happened for more than a decade. Not to mention that last Monday 4,200 fans showed up in a high school cafeteria, in five-degree weather for the first leg of the Brewers Winter Tour.

The thought of better times to come and the sight of Rickie Weeks have fans talking baseball in Milwaukee in December.

What I am trying to get at is that the baseball fans in the city of Milwaukee are starving for a winner. The beautiful part of that is, to us, a winner is just a team that plays hard and competes on a daily basis. There isn't anyone that is beating the World Series drum around here, in fact, I think they blew up the drum on the last episode of "Happy Days."

I assure you that this once was a baseball town until the economics of the game and our inept management actually tried to kill all of us. There still are quite a few of us left and we are desperately imploring you help.

In closing, I know you like to take on challenges and this challenge is not a molehill. If you were to succeed at this endeavor they may actually name the entire city after you. For instance, if you win a Super Bowl in Green Bay they name a street after you, even if you end up coaching an opposing team. We have plenty of streets here in Milwaukee. You can have an entire suburb if you would like.

I beg you. We need an owner with your energy, hard work and marketing ingenuity. Please consider saving another sport in another city that would welcome you with open arms.

Thanks,
Dave Roloff

P.S. If you need another opinion on how beautiful Milwaukee is in the summertime, just ask Don and Del. And, owning a Milwaukee team would be a great way to keep watch on your two crown-jewel Landmark Theatres -- The Downer and Oriental, both are on Milwaukee's East Side.