The Wisconsin state legislature passed a bill approving stadium renovations at Milwaukee’s American Family Field on Tuesday, as covered by Jessie Opoien of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. While the bill still needs approval from governor Tony Evers to officially pass, he has already announced his intent to sign off.
Under this funding plan, the state is agreeing to pay just under $366MM to support the stadium upgrades through 2050. Milwaukee County and the City of Milwaukee will each contribute $67.5MM. The Brewers are expected to pay roughly $150MM — around $100MM of that via rent and approximately $50MM devoted to discretionary upgrades. In total, the public funding amounts to a little over half a billion dollars over the course of 26 years.
Once signed into law by the governor, the plan will put to rest any questions about the Brewers’ future in Milwaukee. The team’s lease at American Family Field, which had been set to expire after the 2030 season, will be extended through 2050. In August, team officials floated the possibility of relocation if a lease extension weren’t agreed upon this fall. That’ll no longer be a concern for Brewer fans, at least for the better part of the next three decades.
“We now can all go to sleep tonight knowing the Brewers are going to be here for the next generation in a great, beautifully maintained ballpark that is worthy of the fans’ support,” the team’s business operations president Rick Schlesinger told reporters (including Opoien) on Tuesday.
Some residents will surely have qualms about committing significant public funding to stadium upgrades. There was opposition among the state senate, with the bill passing by a narrow 19-14 margin.
The Brewers have played in Milwaukee since 1970. The franchise began as an expansion team in Seattle but spent only one season there before moving to Wisconsin. With the Rays and Brewers reaching agreements on stadium deals, the A’s are the only franchise that will be relocating in the near future. MLB’s owners unanimously approved the Athletics’ application for relocation to Las Vegas this morning.
pass federal legislation that prevents any local or state governments from giving money to sports ball. then owners will choose a city not based on how much money the gov is willing to give them. no longer would cities try to outbid each other on who can give away the most money.
You’re asking a lot out of our current congressional members. They can’t even get a budget for one year, which is the bear minimum for their obligations, let alone start passing legislation against their billionaire overlords.
Sports teams give back FAR more in tourism dollars and tax revenue than they ever receive from the government. Take away the Brewers and Bucks from Milwaukee and you have Fargo. A cold city that no one wants to go to unless they absolutely have to.
True, they do bring a lot of money to the city. Just that man, I’m kind of tired of bailing out billionaires. Kick some money to the commoners too…
I understand the frustration, but the commoners do get money. They get jobs as vendors, concession operators, grounds crew, janitors, maintenance men, and many other jobs that wouldn’t exist without the billionaires.
It is easy to condemn the “Ebenezer Scrooge” type people just because we have never walked in their shoes, but without their capital, a lot of people wouldn’t be as well off.
hiflew
You make good arguments, but as a Chicago resident, that’s not working with the Bears and Soldier Field. Pretty sure the Bears get taxed pretty good, but their stadium needs a lot of work. All that money just gets pocketed by the City, and now the team is moving to Arlington Heights. Our last mayor dropped the ball hard, that stadium generates so much money, not just from the Bears, but concerts too. And yet it’s not getting the renovations it needs.
Well I cannot argue that the local Chicago government is not corrupt. I think it has been corrupt since Chicago was founded.
@ErictheBat @hiflew @acoss13
Teams should pay for their own stadiums. They don’t bring significant revenue to their cities.
Read the book “Field of Schemes.”
amazon.com/Field-Schemes-Stadium-Swindle-Expanded-…
That book is still just an argument, not a fact. You can argue anything and, depending on the competence of the person making the argument, make it sound convincing.
It is less an indictment of the problem and more an assessment of someone’s debating skills and writing prowess.
Hiflew you sound pretty confident these teams bring in big revenue to cities ..what numbers are you going off of? Most informed things I’ve read it’s the opposite they are for the most part leaches and do little for the cities
Your last Mayor was a joke to begin with
@hex People want to argue like the Governor just wanted to give the Brewers money. He did have a plan that involved state funding given to the Brewers. This wasn’t his plan. Republicans rejected his plan. This was their plan. But both republicans and democrats want them to stay.
And even people opposed to giving them money for the funding have said, it’s cheaper to keep them. If they left, the stadium would be on the states bill to operate or demolish even. But either way they’d lose tons of money.
This plan even calls to Winterize the stadium so that it can add more revenue for the state through concerts and events in the winter months.
But as others have stated, the book you mention is also just an argument. One that will likely use instances that protect its opinion and ignore one’s that hurt its case. Case by case, all things are different. Should billionaires pay for their own stadiums and renovations? Sure. But they’re not going to because they don’t have to. There will always be a city/state out there willing to help finance a stadium to bring in a sports team.
As a Wisconsin resident, I can tell you, we’re not exactly a hot spot destination for a lot of things. Meaning even our residents have to typically see the events they’d want to go to like concerts and other shows in other states at times. But sports teams give us an extra venue for the possibility that acts and shows will come to. People may not like the sports teams, but the venues they play at still provide a venue for other events to come to. And this new deal for the Brewers will likely add to that by making it so that the stadium can add more appeal with winter shows.
@Cody if you followed this story from the initial proposal by the democratic governor, through the plan that got proposed and is now passing that republicans drew up, many times it was argued and told that by losing the team, it’d cost the city more in the long run because of lost revenues/taxes bought in.
Basically, if the Brewers left, it’d then become the states problem fully on either renovating the ballpark or tearing it down. Meaning instead of partially funding it, they’d have to fully fund it, then have to find ways to utilize it to make money, etc.
As the article says, much of the money the brewers are putting into it is essentially to rent it, but if you took that out, that’d be more money on the state to put forward. Then they’d have to also take on all operating costs. Even people that were not for helping the team fund it though said, it was still cheaper to keep the brewers then to lose them.
It’s not that clear cut.
brookings.edu/articles/sports-jobs-taxes-are-new-s…
Obviously if I was writing a book like those two guys did 26 years ago, I would have a lot more research and a lot more supporting arguments. But I am not because this is a comment board and no matter how convincing my argument is, I won’t see a dime. But that still doesn’t necessarily make me wrong either.
So, hiflew, it seems you have nothing to support your argument while numerous studies over multiple decades have shown publicly funded stadiums are money losers. Funds that could help everyday people get funneled to the wealthy.
Summerfest and the Milwaukee Art Museum aren’t going anywhere if teams leave.
This is highly debatable and even doubtful, given how many stadiums are largely/partially subsidized. More of a redistribution of discretionary income that would of been spent elsewhere.
A better solution would be to abolish the vast majority of taxation and prohibit governments from taking out loans so that they simply have no money to give. And people would keep more of the money they earn instead of being tax slaves and cattle for politicians.
How are they gonna pay for roads? Policing? National defense?
Same pretty much lame 2 (police, defense) those in favor of throwing away more and more to wasteful govt spending for wildest of useless other areas and pet projects of elected officials.
Have been in favor of -0- $ for stadium projects for years. private enterprise is just that.. private enterprise.
Taking a step back 75-100y on spending ways would go a long way on reeling in politicians (and some voters) thinking the US is nothing but a infinite money tree whch automatically grows new bills from it’s branches.
We had roads and a military before taxes. And we’re better off without police.
I’ll make you a deal, @Farian. We eliminate all taxes other than those that are needed for roads and national defense. Deal?
How about the taxes for the border wall to Mexico, Carl? Or does Mexico pay for that?
Hey hey hey…..
Congress is too busy taking money from corporations and China to keep interest rates levels at an all-time high and make record profits for those multinational corporations and China than to worry about when local sports teams extort money out of the taxpayers….
You gonna pay for it and enjoy it buddy even if they are about to rebuild.
I don’t like government money being spent on businesses like sports franchises. I still don’t want the federal government dictating it. It’s the local voters right to decide these matters.
I’ve thought about this myself, but the problem is we’d be passing local legislation to the federal government, which would then politicize it on a federal level. Let the local citizens decide. If they’re for it or against it, then hold the politicians responsible either way. They have the power of the vote. History says the local fans and businesses want the teams to remain.
Ballpark brewers play in is state county city owned. Brewers don’t own it, just rent it. Wisconsin could put concerts in there. Not sure how much parking or other revenues Wisconsin get. I get your point. But they don’t own it. Not brewers fault city of Milwaukee officials all failed math and can’t balance a budget. Cubs owners wanted the amusement tax to develop what is now Gallagher way, privately owned. Chicago says no, rickets and Theo bankrolled it. If you want to research on a horrendous public financed corporation owned stadium, look up bengals stadium. City only gets some parking revenue for the excuse to redevelop the area.
The Brewers own 36% of the stadium, look it up
Who is the federal government to tell local and state governments how to spend their tax dollars?
The local and state governments certainly aren’t being told what to do by the voters. They’re giving away stadiums even if the voters don’t want them to.
Minnesota voters shot down stadium funding via voting a few times before the legislature took that approval process away from voters.
Yet the voters still re-elect them.
No thanks I don’t think the federal government has any business with these issues it big enough and invades our lives enough.
I agree I hate on billionaires crying poverty but no thanks for bigger federal government
How about a big green scoreboard in center field and some ivy on the outfield wall to make Cubs fans feel more at home at our second ballpark?
Already took Craig Counsell I think Brewers fans could use a break, but still funny because Milwaukee is so darn close lol
Out of respect, I think the Brewers finished higher than the Cubs last year.
They did. And yet, whenever the Cubs play there it’s still a majority of Cubs fans in attendance.
A majority of Cubs’ fans? Not true. It’s just that they are so obnoxious that it SEEMS like there are more of them than there really are.
Nah it’s more than 50% Cubs fans when they come to town. I’ve been to many games there even in seasons where the Cubs are bad and it’s pretty consistent.
This hasn’t been true since like 2007. Meanwhile, at each Brewer game I went to at Wrigley last year, I saw at least 50% Brewer fans.
Lol sure you did, @Farian. Wait…. are the Brewers fans in the room with you right now?
More than 50%? Delusional. Fact check: The Brewers have won more games over the past 20 seasons than the Cubs. 20 years. One championship in over 100 years for your club. The only dynasty is that of failure, and obnoxious, delusional suburban fans.
Yeah it’s bad to live in the suburbs. People who live in the suburbs are bad fans for some reason. The Brewers, by contrast, have a fanbase wholly consisting of sophisticated urbanites. No suburban fans there, no sir.
Yes it’s tough that the Brewers have 4 more wins than the Cubs over the past 20 years. I’ll wipe my tears with all my Cubs World Series apparel. Enjoy the next decade of mediocrity! Thanks for the new manager!
So… Sophisticated folks put EVERY condiment on a hot dog and refer to it as food., I guess?
Wipe your tears or your nether regions with it and all of your Fukudome gear for all I care… another 100 years of being the league’s laughingstock is all your future holds. The last two times your crummy franchise took managers from the Brewers, it worked out real well also – to the tune of a .400 winning percentage. I’m expecting similar results.
What’s it like, from your experience and the experience of all Brewers fans, to not have grown up in the wretched, detestable suburbs, but rather on the mean streets of Milwaukee? You know since Cubs fans are all from the suburbs (and that’s bad) whereas all 30 Brewers fans definitely are not.
@Catuli Carl
“…whenever the Cubs play there it’s still a majority of Cubs fans in attendance.”
And the majority of those fans are tourists.
Real Chicago baseball fans root for the White Sox.
@catuli That varies year by year. There’ve been plenty of years where the cubs have stunk, and the cubs fans haven’t shown up as strong at Brewers games. There’s also the fact that many cubs fans will deny, that it’s just easier to go to the games in milwaukee than it is Chicago, and it’s not necessarily because of ticket availability as much as it is just cost friendlier on your pocket and easier as far as parking and what not.
You can argue about how many cubs fans are there for the cubs series, but the brewers still pull good attendance for their market size throughout the whole season even when the cubs fans aren’t there. It’d be one thing if you could say that games when they don’t play the cubs the stadium is near empty, but it’s not the case. Their attendance is just fine throughout the season. They may not sell out every home game, but they still draw just fine.
Guarantee you that Carl wasn’t even alive for the Lou Piniella years
And the brewers will finish ahead of the cubs in 2024 as well
Hexbreaker- And real Chicago fans root for both.Which I guess you aren’t.
You’d feel more at home if it was a crappy old ballpark that needed more repairs
Wrigley Field is the most beautiful and most historic stadium in America. It is universally beloved by everyone who doesn’t have an ulterior bias against the team that plays there. You are a bleeding fool.
You spelled Fenway park wrong.
I could do without it, as a Chicago resident. At least put in some better urinals.
Fenway is historic and is undoubtedly a national treasure, but it’s pretty ugly if you ask me. At least from the inside. I think it technically opened 2 years before Wrigley did but I believe construction was started on Wrigley earlier the Fenway.
Wrigley Field is an over-rated dump. Needs a huge upgrade.
My biggest complaint with Wrigley is there a century worth of urine impregnated into the concrete. It’s hard to get away from the odor.
I’ve also been to both Fenway and Wrigley. Fenway is better. Hands down. Wrigley wins maybe 1 or 2 categories, Fenway wins the rest. I’d gladly travel halfway across the US to see Fenway again over driving 2 hours to Wrigley to see Wrigley again.
You guys do realize that Ricketts spent about 2 billion dollars of his own money upgrading the park and the whole Mezzanine and washrooms and restaurants right? He’s still doing stuff as they’re redoing the whole upper deck roof this off season. When did you last go? 1969? LMAO
I went there a few months ago. Overrated place. It’s no Camden Yards. 100 years of losing doesn’t make a ballpark better than a newer, prettier one.
Half a billion in public funds, absolutely f***ing disgusting.
Better be giving Wisconsin residents some deep discounted games every season….
And how much money does the city receive in tourism, employment, and taxes from the team? You don’t get that much revenue without a few expenditures.
How much money does the team receive from tourism? You are advocating for higher taxes down the road to pay for tax spending. Then you will start taking money away from the spenders who contributed to the tourism, employment and taxes you mentioned. Take money away from baseball spenders and you will have less baseball spenders.
I cannot answer that question. But I would have to think that more people travel to Milwaukee to see the Brewers and spend their money in other businesses on a whim than random tourists in Milwaukee go to see the Brewers on a whim.
“I would have to think” isn’t a very concrete argument for giving the Brewers over a half-billion dollars.
You had no problem letting people know you want people’s taxes given to renovate a stadium that isn’t THAT old. Basically, you are advocating middle and lower income folks shouldn’t keep their money but to generously donate to Milwaukee’s park.
I wouldn’t be in-favour of that but you do you.
@its happening The park is still over 20 years old though and MLB even told them they needed to improve it. It wasn’t like they themselves just said “Hey, pay to improve our ballpark or we’re leaving.” They were told by MLB to get it back up to MLB standards, meaning MLB would’ve been getting involved to an extent if they hadn’t to look at moving the team somewhere else.
The improvements needed to be made. So they looked for funding. That funding, however much people want to bicker over it, keeps the Brewers in Milwaukee for an extra 20 years, so essentially guarantees the team is there for 27 more. It also guarantees that us Brewers fans won’t be next in line to face a situation like Athletics fans now face.
But again, when you look at the two situations, whether you approve of public funding or not, they tell you the same story with different endings. If the city and team don’t come to terms on a deal, some other city will gladly take your team away.
That’s nice. Does not change what I said. Some in Wisconsin probably want to keep their money right now, but if that renovation is more important than the needs of citizens who don’t live close to Milwaukee to attend games, you go ahead and justify those tax dollars that only assist a small fraction of the state.
OR! Or, the guy that owns the Brewers and making money hand over fist can pay for his own renovations.
Well I am commenting on a message board. I have ZERO control over the destination of the city of Milwaukee’s money.
The government is going to take your money somehow. Might as well get a nice ball park out of it.
Low hanging fruit approach hiflew.
There have been hundreds of conclusive studies that show that the money doesn’t come back around in any meaningful way back to the municipalities.
Don’t carry water for billionaires. They aren’t going to be your friend.
That brings up an interesting point. I believe Milwaukee is a revenue-sharing recipient. Do they now share the public funds with all the other teams?
Not serious. I know the answer.
RobM that would be hilarious
“An external audit of the State of Milwaukee shows that they paid for the Pirates’ Closer’s contract extension”
This is Matt Canadas fault.
Governments have a poor choice in priorities, while infrastructure is crumbling, health care and college costs skyrocket, people homeless and unemployed and our climate costing billions of dollars in insurance and FMLA dollars. But giveaways to billionaires continues.
It’s all a part of the “look at the shiny object over here and not the real issues” strategy. And unfortunately it works pretty well it seems
Well do you expect politicians to stop self-enrichment and power-consolidation? Average donors aren’t enough to keep funding their fancy, fun parties?
Kind of a d*ck move to demand money for renovations but also slashing payroll and going into a rebuild where attendance will certainly drop.
@Butt-head- part of that payroll cut is due to the Brewers expiring TV deal with Diamond/Bally sports. Hard to run a high payroll with no local TV market. ATT U verse didn’t finally settle with Bally sports Wisconsin until late this past year. After almost 3 full seasons I was finally able to watch the Brewers locally. Point is TV money pays for a good portion of payroll. The renovations needed are not all at once, but over the next 27 years to maintain the ballpark and surrounding area. Promise you the road themselves into and out of stadium area need a ton of work. The Dome needs some attention and will every few years because of the snowfall. Plumbing and electrical also have to be periodically repaired/replaced.
The Brewers are doing what they’ve done the past several years thus far. Until they show signs that they’re going full tear down, they’re not slashing the budget. They make trades that shed salary to make space for other deals so that they can essentially run out a team with a payroll that runs about the same as a previous year. Due to arbitration raises, it was pretty obvious there were going to be trades. As much as I’d of liked to have seen them keep Canha, it’d of been 10 million added to the payroll considering he was t on the team to begin last year. So he was traded before they even had to decide whether or not to spend 2 million to decline his option. Otherwise it’d of been an automatic 2 million added to the payroll of last season. But they’re not exactly having a fire sale. Even them stating openness to dealing certain players, that much is always done by teams. It’s them saying they’ll look at deals. Not that they’re planning to actually deal them. If they see a deal they like, sure, they’re going to take it. But they’re likely right now merely planning to do what they do each and every year, which is keep the payroll around the same amount.
I hope they included funding in the bill to dig up Jimmy Hoffa outside. That can’t cost that much.
Craig Counsell is crying, mad, very upset, and regretting his choice to leave the Brewers for the Cubs after this news…
Wish Oakland had this leadership and ownership. FU JOHN FISHER!!!!
Wish Las Vegas leadership cared more about the bulk of its citizens than it does about one billionaire.
Anything short of an Ohtani signing, Milwaukee needs to tar and feather Mark Attanasio
While I’d be all for the Brewers signing Ohtani, I know it’s not happening. I also don’t see any reason to tar and feather their owner for a deal that’s likely not going to happen. If Ohtani comes to the Midwest, it’s likely to go to the cubs.
I’m glad to hear they’re going to pony up to keep the Brewers there and the stadium up to par. It’s a beautiful place to watch a game and the retractable roof makes it even better. As a Cub fan I’ve gone there many times but unfortunately am disabled and can’t get anywhere anymore but wish I could. The Brewers -Cubs rivalry should get more intense especially since Counsell came here. Great News. I wish it was possible to put a retractable roof over Wrigley but of course that really isn’t feasible. All the more surprising is the stupid stadium the Sox built that had nothing to offer to a fan. Amazing they didn’t get a stadium like that when they obviously could have.
Would a roof help that much??? Heck they called a rainout a few years ago on a day it didn’t even rain… councel said himself he had never seen a rain out where players are getting sunburn…sorry to hear about you disability I wish you well
Feel free to decline to answer, as it certainly isn’t any of my business, but may I ask what the disability and what causes you to not be able to travel/get to milwaukee to see a game? Genuinely interested to know, in the case that anyone here may be able to offer ideas on how to get there so that you’re able to catch a game.
It’s a spinal disease called Transverse Myelitis. Fancy name for symptoms very similar to MS. I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone. Basically a degeneration of the nerves around the spinal cord.Pain , Loss of balance. After being a driver for my whole life now I can’t really drive anymore. Enjoy the Stadium. I miss live games.
This is great. Happy for Brewer fans. Terrible that the taxpayer has to foot part of the bill for stuff like this, but I digress.
Now, make that scumbag John Angelos sign the Oriole Park lease. Little over a month to go before the current lease expires, leaving the Orioles with no place to play in 2024.
Now that the Wisconsin legislature passed this bill, they can get back to handing out fishing licenses and legalizing bars in elementary schools like they were elected to do.
Great, with the revenue they’ll gain from this and from moving on from Counsell, they’ll be able to increase payro— HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
Get ready for those tickets to go way up enjoy
“the taxpayer has to foot part of the bill”
More than 75% is a really big part.
so for those who are “appalled” by the fact that the state is paying for these upgrades…. what this article misses is that the brewers don’t own the stadium (they do have a stake in it), the 4 surrounding countries own the stadium.
so my question to you is if you are renting a house that needs a new roof, who pays? the answer is the land lord not the tennant. brewers pay their portion of their stake in this case, it isn’t bailing out a billionaire (which anntinaso is not), the state/ counties wanted to own the stadium so they need to make the renovations to get it back up to mlb standards.
This keeps getting regurgitated and is false, who owns the stadium, etc. Please look this up and stop repeating wherever you and others are getting it (same source?) from.
Ummmm… it is public knowledge who owns the stadium. not false at all, brewers own approximatly 36% off the stadium and pay annual rent on it.
so… you are wrong
The stadium isn’t owned by the state, county or city. It is a separate entity and a (mostly) public entity. However the Brewers DO own 36% of the stadium.
Copied/pasted from the interweb:
The Southeast Wisconsin Professional Baseball Park District (64%) and the Milwaukee Brewers (36%) own American Family Field.
36% isn’t insignificant and much more than the 23% they are paying towards the reported funding of repairs and upgrades
so your mad that the brewers are better negotiators to only pay 23% instead of 36%?
SEWPBPD is still a publicly funded entity with a board that decides how the funds are used to repair. thus Wisconsin state needs to put it in their budget
Mad? Not sure mad is the right word but annoyed and upset. As a WI taxpayer I rather have the private business pay their fair share instead of me.
Why would anyone other Brewers ownership NOT want them to pay more? Instead you rather give props to “Brewers negotiators”? Bizzare take, but go off.
We ought to be realistic about what these subsidies are–subsidies to already profitable businesses with growing franchise values. The argument that they are net positive economically to the public has been debunked, so the real issue is whether the Legislature/Governor see a value in giving net subsidies–and to see what things are being underfunded after a reallocation of revenues. I wouldn’t cut cops, firemen, sanitation and teachers to support baseball–but that’s me. I wouldn’t be happy with the politicians who sided with team ownership over cops/firemen/sanitation/teachers, but again, that’s me. There are two classes of people who benefit…the owners who pocket the cash, and the fans who want the product. There’s also a class of people who lose….everyone else.
Does this mean no Nashville Distillers???
Why can’t the five county majority stake implement a hotel tax… most of the tax is payed by people that enjoy the city of Milwaukee…. It wouldn’t involve a tax on the city…. Plus not to be political but votes mean a lot and while you would get votes by rejecting it you get a net gain by approving it… let’s not forget the brewers purchased land around the stadium to try to copy the deer distract that’s THRIVING….. so you may see bars/restaurants…. I understand this is not downtown but if the sector thrives they will come there’s shuttles everywhere… let’s not forget there attendance is already great always top 10 plus they don’t know there upcoming tv contract Bally has messed this up…. Our state government has wasted more money on cow/pig farts… and they had a surplus if it went to people maybe I could understand but they spent it on animal gastrointestinal I would rather it go to the brewers