Minor League Baseball announced a new franchise on March 27, the Malmo Oat Milkers, as the 121st team in the minors.
The Malmo Oat Milkers are based out of Malmo, Sweden, the home to the oat milk company Oatly.
BREAKING: Introducing the 121st team of Minor League Baseball, the Malmö Oat Milkers.
For full season schedule and a chance to win a pair of season tickets: https://t.co/wVm3M1Iw99 pic.twitter.com/8QO5AxK7Nx
— Minor League Baseball (@MiLB) March 28, 2024
The Malmo Oat Milkers concept is part of a corporate sponsorship deal between Oatly and Minor League Baseball during the 2024 regular season. Oatly will have an ongoing multi-year partnership with Minor League Baseball as its first-ever national plant-based, non-dairy sponsor, with the “team” paying homage to Oatly’s home city in Sweden.
The Malmo Oat Milkers are, essentially, a rebranding of existing Minor League Baseball teams for individual games, and Malmo Oat Milkers games will take place at all 120 ballparks in the minor leagues during the 2024 regular season. Each Minor League Baseball team will play as the Malmo Oat Milkers at least once during the season as a sponsorship promotion.
The Malmo Oat Milkers games will feature interactive game experiences from Oatly, and an oat milk carton mascot will throw out the first pitch.
According to Sara Century of Adweek.com, “Plant-based milk brands including Oatly have recently faced business challenges and increased competition amid a market slowdown. Oatly reported losses of $204 million in the fourth quarter of 2023.”
Oatly Senior Vice President of Global Brand and Creative Armando Turco stated in the company’s press 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. 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.”
All of the Malmo Oat Milkers game tickets will be sold on the franchise website at https://www.milb.com/team/oatly, where fans can also find a full schedule of Oat Milkers games. Tickets can also be purchased through individual minor league teams organizations websites. The game start times are listed on each team’s minor league websites.
On some days, the Malmo Oat Milkers games will be playing in two cities at once, such as May 17, when the Akron Rubberducks take on the Altoona Curve at Canal Park in Akron, Ohio, and the Augusta GreenJackets host the Salem Red Sox at SRP Park in Augusta, Ga.
All of the Malmo Oat Milkers games will be streamed on MiLB.com with a paid subscription service. MLB.tv will also include all televised minor league games on their website with a paid subscription.