CONLEY COMMENTARY (WSAU) – State leaders in Madison have lurched towards the right decision on renovations for the Brewers ballpark, American Family Field. A vote in the state senate is coming Tuesday.
Generally speaking, I’m opposed to taxpayers building stadiums for multi-millionaire sports team owners. If these deals are so great, owners would build and own the stadiums themselves and be the landlord for all the ancillary things like Taylor Swift concerts and monster truck shows. But that’s not exactly the situation with the Brewers ballpark. It’s owned by the state, not the team, and the lease calls for the landlord – that’s us, the taxpayers – to invest in the upkeep of the property.
Some of the other hang-ups in the long debate over the funding is worth having. Yes, Milwaukee should pay more that people who live in Superior. Milwaukee benefits from the ballpark. The far reaches of the state don’t. The Brewers should expect to contribute too – they already have a sweetheart deal on the naming rights and the parking and other concessions. Signing a long-term lease extension, to 2050, seems about right.
Wisconsin is sitting on a huge $8-billion surplus. The ballpark expense is small at a time when the state is flush with money.
There is also an intangible to keeping the Brewers in Milwaukee. Major league cities have teams. Smaller, lesser cities don’t. Without the Brewers, Milwaukee becomes Oakland or El Paso. Empty ballparks are white elephants, which still need to be maintained, and suck away tax money without generating any revenue.
With some reservations, if I was in the state senate, I’d be voting ‘yes’ on the Brewers ballpark bill.
Chris Conley
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