 baseball history. Christian's relationship with our team, with our city, with our community is is unique. It's it's very rare that a player and a team's identities become so intertwined in such a short period of time. And that's happened here with Christian, the Brewers, the State of Wisconsin, and the City of Milwaukee. Deals like the one we're announcing today, with its level of complexity, with its length, with all the moving parts, only come together with concerted efforts from everyone involved. We're sitting here today because of a player who wanted to make a commitment to a franchise, to a community, and because of an owner who was willing to go to unprecedented lengths to make it happen. I'd also like to thank Joe Longo, Christian's agent, who throughout this process worked tirelessly to get this done. Joe's creativity, his persistence, allowed us to overcome hurdles that in other negotiations may have proven insurmountable. When Christian first became a Brewer and throughout his time as a Brewer, he has made it known that his number one priority is to help our organization attain its first world championship. Talking to Christian over the off-season, talking to him over the past few weeks here in Arizona, I know that that priority remains. I know that he's as committed to it as ever. So with that, thank you everyone for being here, and I'll turn it over to Mark. Thanks, David, and thank you, Christian, and also echo thanks to Joe Longo, who would say persistence and creativity definitely helped get this done. I was very challenging for me to come at this, because I always feel I'm a fan first, and what Brewer's fan in the 50th year that we're celebrating in our existence wouldn't want to come up with a way to keep Christian here for his career. And so I was terribly excited about this, and just been delighted that he continued to want to work with us on it as we as we face some structural challenges, and I guess it'll come up at some point in the Q&A, but Christian and his team really worked with us so that we could keep him part of our organization for his, you know, we hope his entire career. With that, I want to just echo what everybody sees on the field is an MVP, but we've got that same MVP when it comes to leadership, have much of a leader and leadership that Christian brings, kind of a teammate he is, and the selfless things he does in the community, many of which are not visible, because he really doesn't look for attention, and he does countless things privately in the community that no one knows, and oftentimes I don't know, maybe here after the fact, once or twice, so when you look at a commitment like this for our organization, it couldn't be given to anyone more deserving than Christian, and I don't think there's anything better for our community in Milwaukee and Wisconsin than having him be an integral part of us. So thank you, Christian, and I guess that's... Christian? Yeah, also obviously an exciting day for myself and my family, and I want to thank Mark, David, Joe, and Tom, just it was a unique process, you know, it was interesting at times, and I'm really glad that I am able to spend the foreseeable future here, the rest of my career as a Milwaukee Brewer. You know, I've said many times that I've only been here for two years, but it feels like it's been a lot longer, and ever since I came here, it just felt like a natural fit, a place that was great for myself and my family, and formed a connection with the community, my teammates, everyone from ownership to the front office on down, and as a player, that's what you want, you want a chance to win something that feels organic, and it felt right to me, and I didn't really have aspirations to play anywhere else, and fortunately we were able to work things out to where we won't have to worry about that anymore, and like I said, it's a really great day for my family, and just everyone involved has been great and exciting times, and just really enjoyed playing in the city of Milwaukee, the state of Wisconsin, the fan base embraced me from day one, and for me it's just a really special place to play, and like you said, our goal here is to eventually bring a World Series to Milwaukee and to the Brewer's organization, and we're now going to have that opportunity over the next nine years. Thank you Christian. We'll take questions. Tom? This is really the Christian or Mark, I think everybody will want to know who went first here, somebody had to go first. I don't know what kind of story, which one of the stories you want to tell? Sometimes Debbie and I try to figure that out in our marriage. You know, over the two years that Christians played for us, we developed an intimate relationship and an ability to discuss things openly, and so Christian had indicated to me that he might like to talk about an arrangement which will allow him to retire as a Brewer, and so Joe Longo reached out to me and on Halloween, we got together for lunch on Halloween, so I guess it was trick or treat, and turned out to be a treat. And I don't know, does that sort of comport? That's a good one. You know Tom, one of the things I said to, and I don't want to jump over Christian here, but one thing I said to Christian, you know, a transaction over $200 million in size in the corporate world I come from, this would be considered fast. You know, it's complex, it's structured, it's a huge amount of money, and I think it was at every step we were moving forward. Of course, you always want to move forward, you know, quicker, but there was a lot of elements to it, and I'm pleased we're able to get it done pretty much before Christians played his first game. Today will be the first game. Adam? Christian, this is kind of a crazy question, talking about this amount of money, but do you feel like you are taking a hometown discount to stay? No, I mean this is a place that I wanted to play and to be. You know, I realized that I had three years before free agency, but above all else, I really meant it when I said that I wanted to finish my career as a Milwaukee brewer, and not only do that, but be a part of winning teams as a brewer, and that's very important to myself. Like you said, it's a large sum of money. People are always going to ask the what is, did you leave it, did you not, but you know, I play the game to win and to be a part of a place that I feel comfortable. I take pride in representing, and for me, this was that place, and that's how I made this decision, and it wasn't one that I took lightly. I spent a lot of time talking about it with my family and representatives, but at the end of the day, we felt that this was right, I felt it was right, and what I wanted to do, and I couldn't be happier today. Over here on the left, Jesse. For David, some of the complexities you talked about on your end, is that involved trying to get the payroll, you know, salary in your payroll structure so you can build around it and have it competitive? Well, first step in having a competitive team is having a player of Christian's caliber on the roster, so knowing that Christian's going to be here now for the better part of a decade certainly helps us plan and allows us to map out how we're going to remain competitive for that time period, and that was a priority of Christians, that we have the ability to remain competitive during his term as a brewer. We believe we can, and sure, that was part of our discussions internally and the idea of how we can make that happen. Bob, on the right. Christian, you got traded here from Miami a couple years ago. What is the price in most of them, now known about the whole community organization that you did know before as an outsider? I just said this organization is a family. They take great care of their players, employees, everyone. It's an amazing fan base, it's a great place to play. Like you said, I didn't really know a lot about it before I was a member of the organization. It came once a year for three or four days, and that was really it. But like I said earlier, it's been a great experience since day one, somewhere that felt natural, somewhere that I really have enjoyed being and I'm excited to spend a lot more time here. Mark, as somebody that manages money for a living in your day job, as you call it, did it occur to you that when the final numbers were coming together that you paid $223 million for the whole team in 2005? Yeah, you know, Tommy, you factor, sure, but I thought about that more in the context of what the sport and the industry has become. And so that was 2005 and this is 2020. And, you know, Christian will be with us through, I don't know what year, 2028 and we'll be paying him beyond that. Where I got daunted is when I started thinking about how old I would be when he received his last check. Sophie? Definitely my mom, my brothers, my teammates, just coaches over the years. There's a lot of people that go into today. It's definitely not just myself. It's been a collective effort throughout my life. There's been a lot of great people and I have no doubt that I wouldn't be here without their contributions and their efforts and that's what makes today special too. There's been a lot of people that made my life a priority over theirs at times and it's just a cool day. Right here, Adam. Christian, a question, but I'll put it to Dave at the beginning of the break. Dave, how does this change your job? In one hand it's a good thing. It makes it easier that you don't play the lock up. I think putting a competitive team on the field consistently is always a challenge and we understand that. We recognize that. We've been able to accomplish that collectively over the last three years. Christian's been a big part of it since he's been here and we certainly believe he's going to be a big part of it going forward. You make this level of investment in one player because you believe that player has the talent and longevity to make that type of impact. We think we have the resources and the ingenuity to make it work and we're going to work really hard to make sure that happens. Are you getting advice from either Ryan or Lorenzo before you sign your contract as far as pointing to being a place for so long? Yeah, I've definitely talked to Ryan about a lot of things not only about this process but from my first day as a brewer and his career is taking a similar trajectory as mine as far as just contracts and everything that's really happened and he was a big part of this and gave me great advice and we've talked a lot not only about this but just baseball in general spending his entire career as a brewer and he's done amazing things for this organization so I definitely found things off of him. We have a great relationship. We go back and forth a lot at times but it's all in good fun and I'm definitely thankful that he's embraced me as he has like I said, it's my first day in this organization so thanks, Ryan. You too, love. Tom. Christian, considering you grew up in Southern California and then played in Miami did it surprise you how great the fit felt for you in the midwest and it seems like it happened so fast? It did happen very fast and yeah, I'd be lying if I didn't say I was a little surprised but I always heard great things and everyone always spoke highly of playing in Milwaukee and just the atmosphere at the ballpark and just the culture and the organization so not too surprised once I got here and got to know everybody but like I said, it's been basically a great fit since day one. Tom, I'd like to overlay 2.9 million fans coming in in a very loud crowd every night. We thanked a lot of people here, we should thank our fans. They really are what makes it such a great place to play, the atmosphere in that ballpark and the fact that year in and year out they support the team gave me the comfort that we could deliver on this contract for Christian without that fan support we wouldn't be here. For anyone, at what point did you feel like the momentum was there that this was going to happen? You would get to this day? Probably the day that it did. You know, these things are always kind of up in the air and I've been through this process once and realized that it starts out a long way out and then you don't really know if it's ever going to see the finish line until right at the end and even then it's a big decision, it's the next nine years of your life and you shouldn't take it lightly and you weigh everything when you make a decision like that and we all got together many times in the last few weeks and there was a lot of communication going back and forth and at least from my end I don't know how you'd feel about that but I think the goal was always to get it done and see the finish line but you just never know until it's official. On the left again, Jesse. By the way, that's true at the Vatican also when the Pope is chosen. Chris, you've signed two big deals now so we're a free agency coming to this thing that you'll probably never be a free agent obviously. Did that cost your mind? Did it matter? What's your part of that? Some players want a chance to talk to 29 other people. Yeah, absolutely. I mean it's a case by case basis I think and I made two decisions in my life that I felt were right at the time and when you make those decisions you don't really look back and yeah, chances are that I'm probably never going to see free agency and that's just how my career went. I didn't really have any intention of never seeing free agency or always going down this route. This is really how it played out for me and I don't have any regrets about it and it's just one of those things and the path that my career took. Take one or two more, Tom. Christian, so many of the new deals we've seen other players have an opt-out and it looks like you don't and you can correct me if it's wrong and then they committed back to you with the no trade. How important was that dual commitment for both sides? It was a partnership and I didn't want to just go into something like this just to leave it at some point and we never even talked about the possibility of an opt-out. It wasn't something that was frankly important to me and I think kind of the situation that I was into it was just never a thing that was going to happen and I didn't care about it because I wanted to be here for the long haul and that's basically how it happened and I'm not sure that's not a great answer but it's just the truth. I'd say from our side, David, of all the deal points the quickest agreement on our side was the no trade clause. The foundation of this whole thing was a mutual desire to make Christian a brewer for the remainder of his career and so when that's the foundation at the beginning of a negotiation opt-outs and trade protection become pretty easy points. Does that make this a little unique in modern contract structures no opt-outs, no trade? I think it's just how the desires of both parties here were to keep this with the intention of keeping Christian a brewer for as long as we could and that was Christian's desire at the beginning that was the team's perspective at the beginning as well and so opt-outs never came up and we understood there was going to be trade protection involved and I think it works for both sides. Take one more. Christian, are you eager to get on the field now? It's been a while while this has all been working. Now it'll be nice to play today for sure. We were talking about that earlier before we came in here. It's been a while, it's been September so I mean I just started getting out there just getting back to playing baseball with me with my teammates and preparing for the season it'll be a regular spring training after that we've got plenty of time to get ready and that's something I'm definitely looking forward to. And with that said, we will let Christian get to the field David and Mark will stick around for one-on-ones. Thank you all for coming. Thank you, yes. There it is. It's official Christian Yelich will be a brewer through the 2028 season if all the options are exercised it's contract worth over 228 million dollars the richest in franchise history full no trade and no opt-out among the details that we can discuss with the man who signed it with Christian Brewer's Jim David Stern so join us on high heat right after a quick timeout. I just don't know it yet. Wendy's uses fresh cracked eggs on all our breakfast sandwiches not whatever this stuff is. That's right. See you in the morning. You work for this? If your shirt isn't tucked into your pants are your pants tucked into your shirt? Constant contact makes it so easy to create emails for your business you'll have time to let your mind wander. 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