MILWAUKEE — The Milwaukee Brewers are planning to host events year-round in the renovated American Family Field. In October, a deal to renovate American Family Field worth more than $500 million was passed with the deal lasting through 2050.
Brewers President of Business Operations Rick Schlesinger joined Tracy Johnson on WTMJ, discussing American Family Field’s winterization and the anticipated economic impact of the renovated stadium.
Schlesinger told WTMJ that in the first 20 years of having the Brewers in Milwaukee, the economic impact was around $2.5 billion. Similarly, their goal is to make as big of an economic impact on the city with this newly renovated stadium.
“[We’ll have] job creations, tax revenues, [and] sales tax from all the activity. All the tickets and brats and beers and parking and retail items that are sold… all the taxes paid by people of employment, the state income tax paid by the Brewers players… all that goes into the mix,” he said.
Since construction projects will go on for the next 27 years, there will be many opportunities for construction jobs as well. At the culmination of that work, they are excited to have better winterization to host events at the stadium.
“Whether it’s concerts, wrestling, basketball, hockey, volleyball, or other things such as the fan festival. We’ll have activity in the winter,” Schlesinger said. “Sales taxes, jobs, fun… just making the ballpark a full 12-month 365-day experience.”
RELATED: Winter events coming to American Family Field…. eventually
To get this bipartisan deal to work, Schlessinger said a lot of patience and compromise was needed. He learned a lot during the process of securing this deal for the stadium.
“[When talking to constituents], you have to try to solve problems,” Schlesinger said. “You also have to recognize there are certain things that cannot be done, so you’re never going to have a situation where you’re going to get all people in every facet of the politics to be on board. You’re not going to have a perfect piece of legislation.”
He said although he’s not normally patient, he had to be patient in this process to get the American Family Field deal done.
“You have to be flexible. You have to be nimble. You have to be responsive. You have to make the case,” he said. “It took us a long time to do it. I was very pleased with the outcome.”
With Brewers Spring Training around the corner, Schlesinger said he’s excited for the season ahead, especially with the additions and changes they made during the offseason.
“Our goal is to get to the postseason, have some magic, and win the World Series,” he said. “We’ve fallen short the past few times, but people are motivated and excited about the team.”
Brewers Spring Training begins on Saturday, February 24th.
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