MILWAUKEE -- It's almost as if the Milwaukee Brewers can't believe what's happening to them.

Nearly two months after a 2,100-ton crane collapsed onto a wall and killed three workers at Miller Park, the Brewers finally have admitted their new stadium's scheduled April 2000 opening will be delayed.

"Although we don't have a report (from the stadium builders), it's a practical measure for us to acknowledge that October 3 will not be the final game at County Stadium," vice president of corporate affairs Laurel Prieb said Wednesday.

"We did feel there was a practical priority of taking care of 54,000 fans who had purchased tickets for October 3."

The backhanded acknowledgement came in a press release describing alterations in the team's plans for the 1999 season's final game on Oct. 3, "originally targeted to be the final game at County Stadium before the July 14 construction accident caused a delay for Miller Park's opening."

But the team and the league apparently have assumed a delay would be inevitable. Since last month, major league baseball officials in New York have been conducting business under the assumption the Brewers will not move into Miller Park until opening day 2001.

The Brewers have spent the last half-decade planning for the move, which will allow them to dramatically increase revenue and perhaps even escape baseball's impoverished lower class. With six straight losing seasons and a seventh on the way, Miller Park has been the beacon of light in the Brewers' dark present.

"Every day this year, no matter whether you were playing good or playing bad, you could see workers up there banging on something, and it made you feel good because you knew you were pushing forward," infielder Jeff Cirillo said. "Now, you don't know where your future lies."

The Brewers and the board of directors overseeing the stadium claim to be examining the possibility of opening the park in July 2000, similar to the manner in which the Seattle Mariners opened Safeco Field last July.

But given the months of cleanup work still to be done and the logistical problems of doing construction work during a Wisconsin winter, an April 2001 opening would seem to be all but certain.

The project is 63 percent complete and 300 workers currently are on the site, according to the board's construction committee. Board chairman Frank Busalacchi said Wednesday that a decision on when to open Miller Park likely will come soon, possibly during the next two weeks.

"I'm not leaning anywhere," Busalacchi said. "I'm just waiting for an indication from those building the ballpark as to what we're going to do."

While the Brewers' moving plans remain up in the air, the team is foundering on the field. Entering Wednesday's play, Milwaukee had lost 25 of its last 36 games, including 17 of 25 under interim manager Jim Lefebvre.

Manager Phil Garner and GM Sal Bando were ousted last month by team president Wendy Selig-Prieb. With no general manager to impress and no permanent manager to rally the players, morale is approaching rock bottom in the Brewers' clubhouse.

"It's tough to come out every day and try to hold it together," third baseman Sean Berry said. "We try to keep fighting, because that's all you can do."

The delay also will affect the team's finances. The Brewers figured to double their revenue in their first year in the lucrative ballpark, and a substantial portion of that money was to be spent on increasing the team's $39 million payroll, the 19th-highest among baseball's 30 teams.

Without that money and the funds which would have been generated during the final days at County Stadium and the first year at Miller Park, Milwaukee will operate in the red for another season.

In addition, the Brewers are looking at another full campaign in the drafty, smelly old facility slated for demolition as soon as Miller Park is ready.

"There's lots of memories here for some people, but I don't have many, especially positive memories," All-Star outfielder Jeromy Burnitz said. "I was looking forward to getting in the new stadium."

The Brewers are trying to make the best of a bad situation, however. On Wednesday, the team said those who attend the Oct. 3 game will be able to purchase comparable tickets to the final game, whenever that may be.

The team also said that after County Stadium is demolished, every ticket holder to the Oct. 3 game will be entitled to receive a brick from the structure with a letter of authenticity.