MILWAUKEE – American Family Field’s renovations are expected to cost around 600 million dollars, and the current plan to pay for that has the City and County of Milwaukee covering one third of that cost.
The main designer of the plan is State Representative Rob Brooks (R- Saukville). He says he recognizes 200 million dollars is a lot of money, but the return on investment for Milwaukee is major.
“If you talk to any advertising agency, I don’t know how you can have a better bang for your buck than whenever the Milwaukee Brewers appear on TV or on ESPN,” says Brooks.
But State Senator Chris Larson (D- Milwaukee) says the current plan does not make sense for Milwaukee.
For Sen. Larson, it comes down to how much Milwaukee stands to receive in tax revenue.
“That amount totals about 193 million dollars. And the amount the city and county have to pay under the current bill is 202.5 million dollars. So it is actually cheaper for the city and county together (for the Milwaukee Brewers to leave) than if they have to pay this current 202.5 million dollars from the current bill,” says Justin Bielinski, a spokesperson for Senator Larson’s office.
Bielinski says the local contribution to the repairs is Sen. Larson’s biggest obstacle to voting in favor of the current bill.
“He (Sen. Larson) does not feel there should be any local contribution. To the extent there is a benefit to the Brewers, it mostly accrues to the state. So the state should be the one to pay it.”
According to Bielinski, there is little to no support for the current bill among Democrats in the Wisconsin Senate.
Rep. Brooks says amendments are coming to the bill, and the local contribution is going to be adjusted.
“I anticipate and hope that we can reduce the local contribution with the deal we are working on back down to the 135 million dollar mark,” said Rep. Brooks when asked about the local contribution.
The 135 million dollar figure was mentioned at a committee hearing for the bill last week. While that reduced figure is not what Sen. Larson is looking for, Rep. Brooks says using any tax payer money is less than ideal.
“As a fiscal conservative, would I like to see it funded differently? Sure, but that is not the reality of how professional sports are funded in this state. We have a team that is being heavily recruited by cities like Nashville and Las Vegas who just spend 1.6 billion dollars to build a stadium in hopes that somebody comes.”
Rep. Brooks says he is optimistic a vote can take place within the next week after amendments are made to the bill.
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