The Malmö Oat Milkers are MiLB’s newest team: What to know about the Sweden-based baseball team
All 120 Minor League Baseball (MiLB) teams will get to don the pink and black after oat milk company Oatly announced the creation of the Malmö Oat Milkers, a "corporate sponsorship innovation."
Oatley called the Oat Milkers the MiLB's 121st team, but all teams will get to play in the "non-outlandish pink accented jerseys for nine entire innings," according to the Swedish company's news release.
“Our first season of partnership with MiLB brought Oatly, an oat milk company from Sweden that knows very little about baseball, further into Minor League Baseball hometowns – tapping into uncharted territory and new audiences for our brand," Armando Turco, SVP of global brand and creative at Oatly, said in the release. "We’re very excited to continue on this path with the launch of The Malmö Oat Milkers, the only sports team of its kind (that we know of at least)."
The Oat Milkers were announced during "MLB Tonight's" March 27 evening broadcast on ESPN, the company said. The new team is a part of Oatly's multi-year partnership with the MiLB that began in May 2023, which made the company the league's "first-ever national plant-based (and) non-dairy sponsor," according to the release.
"(The Oak Milkers ) pays homage to Oatly’s home city of Malmö, Sweden," the company said.
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What can Malmö Oat Milkers' fans expect on game day?
While Oatly reported a gross profit of $47.8 million for the fourth quarter of 2023, the Oat Milkers may not have that many fans yet.
Although fans are not obligated to wear Oat Milkers’ gear, as corporate sponsors, Oatly said it "would love that," according to the release.
Those who do attend Oat Milker games will experience a "first-pitch ritual complete with oat milk carton throwing, Oat Milkers trivia moments, a chance to 'sign a contract to be an Oat Milker for a day,' and more," the company said.
Oatly and Oat Milkers touchpoints will also be placed throughout all 120 league stadiums, along with Oatly non-dairy frozen dessert concessions at select ballparks, according to the company's release.
“We’re not the type of brand to slap our logo on a jersey and walk away (cue the small minority of fans that will in fact want us to walk away)," Turco said. "Instead, our goal was to do our small part to add something to the fan experience, and to rethink the very notion of ‘sponsorship’ by creating something entirely new and characteristically irreverent. We’re hopeful that MiLB fans will reward us by opening their hearts, minds, and fandom to the Oat Milkers, and cheer us on as we take to fields all across the USA.”
How did the idea for Malmö Oat Milkers come about?
When Oatly asked Major League Baseball (MLB) to create a team, the league initially "just laughed and hoped they would give up on it," Uzma Rawn, the MLB's senior vice president of global corporate partnerships, said in the release.
“Ultimately, we couldn’t say no to their Swedish charm and the convincing arguments they made for head-scratching antics and out-of-the-carton ideas -- and the chance to introduce umlauts to baseball fans across the country," she said. "We know our MiLB fans will be more than entertained by the Malmö Oat Milkers this season, and we hope you’ll cheer them on when they arrive for a game in your home city.”
Oatly and the MiLB are allowing "fans" to enter for a chance to win season tickets.
"That means, of course, you would have to visit all 120 MiLB team cities where you could follow the Malmö Oat Milkers season journey in-real-life and presumably claim the title of '#1 Oat Milkers Fan,'" the company said.
The Oat Milkers' first game is scheduled for April 12 against the Sugar Land Space Cowboys. The Albuquerque Isotopes will be the home team wearing the Oak Milker jerseys for this game.
