Brewers deal needs work
American Family Field in Milwaukee, home of the Milwaukee Brewers will seemingly be getting a face lift in the coming years. That face lift is being funded using over $600 million in taxpayer money. $202 million of that public funding is expected to come from Milwaukee County and $135 million of the funds would come from the city of Milwaukee while the rest of the public funds would come from the state of Wisconsin.
The deal is being made to keep the Brewers in Wisconsin through 2050 and legislators have argued that losing the Brewers to another city would do more harm than using public funding for the stadium renovations.
The idea of using public funds to help improve stadium facilities is nothing new. Fiserv Forum, home of the Milwaukee Bucks utilized $250 million in public funding starting in 2016. However, the state’s burden of that $250 million was $55 million.
This much larger contribution for improvements to American Family Field from the state should not be something that is taken lightly. I’m not an expert on state budgets but I do know that the Brewers are worth an estimated $1.6 billion according to Forbes and owner Mark Attanasio has a net worth of $700 million. Yet, the club’s contribution to the stadium improvements is only $100 million.
It should not be lost on Wisconsinites that the team uses the threat of leaving for leverage when garnering more monetary donations for improvement projects. That seems to be par for the course when talking about small market teams as the Oakland Athletics are dealing with a move to Las Vegas and the Tampa Bay Rays told Tampa officials they did not plan to play out their 2027 lease and instead got a new stadium in St. Petersburg, Fla.
The negotiations between professional sports teams and the regions in which they reside will never be perfect. However I think there are ways to make the process more beneficial to fans throughout the process.
I was visiting my grandpa over the weekend and he suggested that the Brewers should allow taxpayers who are helping to fund stadium improvements to watch the games for free. That would be awesome, but I’d just settle for games to not be blacked out so I could watch the nationally televised games. Another gripe I’ve seen is that the Brewers plans for the stadium improvements don’t include major developments to the area surrounding the stadium. Some Milwaukee residents would like to see a development area similar to the Deer District around Fiserv Forum or Titletown by Lambeau Field in Green Bay. I think there is definitely room for improvement on that front as pregame festivities are limited to tailgating and a few tents with pregame parties that are pitched in the parking lot. There is room for development with a boat load of parking lot space and I think Brewers fans could experience the best of both worlds with establishments for pre and post game fun as well as plenty of parking lot space for tailgating.
Either way, I think there is much to be improved upon in this Brewers deal but I’m glad to see that a plan is in place to keep the team in Wisconsin.
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