Listen to the Brewers Fan Forum 
MILWAUKEE -- Ulice Payne Jr. and Doug Melvin are headed back to the hot seat. This time, they have company.
Payne, Brewers president and CEO, and Melvin, the club's general manager, will be joined by field manager Ned Yost in a candid question-and-answer session at the second annual Brewers Fan Forum. The free public event is scheduled for 6-8 p.m. CT on Tuesday, Oct. 21 at Miller Park.
The team will also announce its 2004 schedule and ticket prices at the event.
Questions will come from fans at the forum, as well as from online submissions to BrewersPresident@MilwaukeeBrewers.com. Television broadcaster Daron Sutton will moderate what figures to be another lively discussion, with as many as 6,000 fans expected to attend.
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SCHEDULE:
Lots open at 5 p.m. CT
Program from 6-8 p.m. CT
World Series Game 3 will air on the video board after the forum
FEATURES:
Free admission, parking
Free hot dog and soda
Instant fan balloting
Raffles and giveaways
Stroll the field and dugouts
Second Harvest food drive
QUESTIONS:
Submit your question in person
E-mail a question in advance
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"This may be the most important program we do," said Payne. "Forget the consultants and all that. We've got to hear directly from the fans. They can tell me something different than all my vice presidents can."
The event was conceived last fall, shortly after Payne and Melvin took over in the biggest organizational shakeup in Brewers history. Organizers expected about 1,000 fans to show; they got 4,200 in person and hundreds more via online submissions. The questions posed a mixture of hope and frustration to the team's new brain trust, which had yet to hire Yost as manager.
"It was a good experience to let people talk to us about what they liked and what they didn't like," Melvin said. "Last year, some of those suggestions were followed up on."
Melvin earned applause last year when he said that strikeout-prone shortstop Jose Hernandez would not be back in 2003. Another fan suggested to Payne that the Brewers bring back live organ music to the ballpark, and Payne instantly implemented the idea.
"There is a chance something like that can happen again, depending on what questions are asked," Payne said. "This time, we will be asking people questions instead of just people asking questions of us. I want to know more about what they liked and disliked about the experience this season."
The team will accomplish that through what it is calling "Instant Fan Balloting." Payne said it will take the form of written questionnaires as well as simple shows of hands during the program, and will focus on possible new ballpark amenities and in-game entertainment.
"We will make some calls on the spot just like last year," Payne said. "It will be like, 'OK, we're going to do it.'"
On the baseball operations side, Melvin can expect a number of questions to focus on Richie Sexson and Geoff Jenkins, a highly paid duo of All-Stars entering the final season of four-year contracts.
"Finances are always a topic, whether you are a team like ours or the Giants and Braves," Melvin said. "That always seems to be a topic: What's the payroll? Who's coming back?"
On that topic, fans may have to settle for a "wait-and-see" approach. Melvin said he and other department heads are in the process of budgeting for 2004, and he has not yet been told what his payroll will be. In 2003, the figure dropped to the low-$40 million range from about $50 million the year before.
Yost missed last year's fan forum, but he got a taste of fan input during the team's around-the-state caravan last winter. Under Yost, the 2003 Brewers finished 68-94, 12 games better than the 2002 nightmare.
"The first thing I wanted to do, more than anything else, was get the fans back," Yost said after the season. "There were a lot of disgusted people when I got here. They were really upset with the way the team had played and the direction the franchise was going."
Gates will open at 5 p.m. CT, parking and admission are free, and fans will receive vouchers for a free hot dog and soft drink. Attendees will be entered into a raffle featuring autographed items, airline tickets and opportunities to enjoy a Brewers' game in one of Miller Park's luxurious suites. Last year, Anne Griffith, a partial season ticket holder from Wauwatosa, Wis., won six tickets to the 2003 All-Star Game at U.S. Cellular Field.
After the question-and-answer period, Game 3 of the World Series will air on the scoreboard. Bernie Brewer and the Klements Racing Sausages will be in attendance fielding photo and autograph requests.
Fans are asked to support America's Second Harvest of Wisconsin, a food bank that supplies nearly 300,000 people in the state.
The organization will place bins at the entrances for fans to donate a variety of foods, including canned meat, cereals, macaroni and cheese, canned fruits and vegetables, juices, soup, peanut butter and pasta. Cash donations are also welcome. Every dollar donated provides six meals to those in need.
Adam McCalvy is a reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.
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