It looks like last week’s tweaks to the Milwaukee Brewers stadium renovation subsidy bill haven’t been enough yet to win a majority of votes in the state senate. Tim Lakin, chief of staff for Republican bill co-author Sen. Dan Feyen, told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, “I’m hopeful that we can get to 17 votes by Tuesday,” which means he didn’t have 17 votes on the 33-member body when he said it.
For one, Democratic Senate Minority Leader Melissa Agard is still opposed, though she said she’d potentially support the bill if the state’s share of the cost, currently around $300 million in present value, was reduced further (she didn’t say by how much) and Milwaukee got more members on the board of the state stadium district. Democratic Sen. Kelda Roys likewise said she’d “like to get to yes” but “I can’t swallow the massive size of the public spend, nor the lack of board representation for the city and county and legislative Dems,” so it sounds like at least some bill opponents are in line with each other in terms of their asks.
Counting city and county money, the total subsidy package is currently worth about $440 million in present-value public money. Brewers owner Mark Attanasio would put up $150 million, though $100 million of that would be spread out in annual rent payments, meaning the total value could be as little as $100 million, or less than 20% of the total cost. Most of the money, according to the Journal Sentinel, would be used for luxury suite and concessions concourse renovations that would help “provide a unique space for socializing while the game becomes background entertainment” — that’s the Brewers consultant’s words there, they said it — which, needless to say, would benefit Attanasio’s stadium profits while taxpayers would see no revenue from the increased hobnobbing.
And then there’s this:
Some lawmakers who voted in favor of the deal in the committees conceded the package is a hard sell to their constituents, but said they’ve ultimately concluded it’s worth doing in order to keep the team in Milwaukee through at least 2050.
So, constituents — only 29% of whom think it’s worth spending any public money on the Brewers at all — think it’s worth risking the team leaving rather than giving Attanasio $440 million? Or they don’t think the Brewers would leave? Or they think the Brewers would agree to stay for less? Maybe somebody should ask them before handing over $440 million in public money for their own good? Lots of questions, but I’m guessing no one will be asking them — to constituents or anyone else — before the senate votes on this bill, potentially tomorrow.
“Most of the money, according to the Journal Sentinel, would be used for luxury suite and concessions concourse renovations that would help “provide a unique space for socializing while the game becomes background entertainment””
That is the best thing ever written about stadium upgrade “necessities”. Spells it all out in plain english:
“you, the great unwashed, must funnel your tax dollars into these improvements that will be focused entirely on improvements to areas of the stadium that the vast majority of you cannot afford to buy access to”.
And, at that, the passage leaves out the fact that we are already into the subset of the general public that are sports fans/baseball fans/wealthy enough to even buy a ticket into the stadium.
The average price of a Reds ticket last year was, I’m told, just under $40. For a baseball game. So with parking/transit and a beer (or maybe a couple of $5 soft drinks instead) you likely won’t get from your door and back home again for less than $60.
That may well seem doable for professional sports fans (and it’s far from the worst offender, MLB…), but please consider the number of people in this economy who work for less than $15/hr. It’s a large proportion of all workers (and despite what many like to claim, they do pay taxes… and although the income tax on people in that bracket is quite low, it’s still a significant percentage of their income).
Maybe MLB’s dwindling attendance across many/most markets is more down to an increase in prices than legitimate lack of interest? It used to be the entertainment for the masses… but that seems no longer to be the case.
Just five AL teams had an avg attendance north of 30k in 2022. None were over 40k
In the NL it was eight teams with just 3 over 40k avg.