Current:Home > StocksWisconsin governor signs off on $500 million plan to fund repairs and upgrades at Brewers stadium -NextFrontier Finance
Wisconsin governor signs off on $500 million plan to fund repairs and upgrades at Brewers stadium
View
Date:2025-04-17 06:47:59
MILWAUKEE (AP) — After months of backroom wrangling, Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers signed a bill Tuesday that spends half-a-billion dollars in taxpayer money over the next three decades to help the Milwaukee Brewers repair their baseball stadium.
The governor signed the bipartisan package at American Family Field, calling the legislation a compromise agreement between the team and the public.
“All in all, this plan ensures the Milwaukee Brewers will continue to call this city home for nearly 30 more years,” Evers said before signing the legislation on a stage set up at home plate.
The Brewers say the 22-year-old stadium needs extensive renovation. The stadium’s glass outfield doors, seats and concourses need replacing, the stadium’s luxury suites and video scoreboard need upgrades and the stadium’s signature retractable roof, fire suppression systems, parking lots, elevators and escalators need work, according to the team.
Brewers officials warned lawmakers the team might leave Milwaukee without public assistance. Spurred by the threat of losing tens of millions of dollars in tax revenue, legislators began working on a subsidy package in September.
Debates over handing public dollars to professional sports teams are always divisive. The Brewers’ principal owner, Mark Attanasio, is worth an estimated $700 million, according to Yahoo Finance, and the team itself is valued at around $1.6 billion, according to Forbes.
Critics, including a number of Milwaukee-area legislators, insisted the Brewers deserved nothing and the state should spend its tax dollars on programs designed to help people.
The package went through multiple revisions as lawmakers worked to find ways to reduce the public subsidy. The bill Evers finally signed calls for a state contribution of $365.8 million doled out in annual payments through 2050. The city of Milwaukee and Milwaukee County will contribute a combined $135 million.
The legislation also imposes surcharges on tickets to non-baseball events at the stadium such as rock concerts or monster truck rallies. The surcharges are expected to generate $20.7 million.
The Brewers, for their part, will spend $110 million and extend their lease at the stadium through 2050, keeping Major League Baseball in its smallest market for another 27 years.
The bill easily passed the Legislature last month, with the Assembly approving it on a 72-26 vote and the Senate following suit 19-14.
veryGood! (17864)
Related
- NHL in ASL returns, delivering American Sign Language analysis for Deaf community at Winter Classic
- Lily-Rose Depp, Bill Skarsgård sink their teeth into vampire horror 'Nosferatu': Watch trailer
- Plans for mass shooting in Chattanooga, Tennessee office building 'failed,' police say
- Ben Affleck Accuses Paparazzi of Putting His Daughter in “Danger” Outside Jennifer Lopez Mansion
- Where will Elmo go? HBO moves away from 'Sesame Street'
- Wildfire prompts evacuation orders for rural community in northern California
- Kevin Bacon, Kyra Sedgwick Make Rare Red Carpet Appearance With Kids Sosie and Travis
- Lawsuit challenges Louisiana law requiring classrooms to display Ten Commandments
- Kourtney Kardashian Cradles 9-Month-Old Son Rocky in New Photo
- As a Longwall Coal Mine Grows Beneath an Alabama Town, Neighbors of an Explosion Victim Feel Undermined and Unheard
Ranking
- Jay Kanter, veteran Hollywood producer and Marlon Brando agent, dies at 97: Reports
- Dagestan, in southern Russia, has a history of violence. Why does it keep happening?
- Boebert faces first election Tuesday since switching districts and the vaping scandal
- 'Beverly Hills Cop' star Judge Reinhold says 'executive murder plot' crushed career
- Former Milwaukee hotel workers charged with murder after video shows them holding down Black man
- WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange stops in Bangkok on his way to a US court and later freedom
- Surgeons perform kidney transplant with patient awake during procedure
- US Olympic track and field trials: Winners, losers and heartbreak through four days
Recommendation
RFK Jr. closer to getting on New Jersey ballot after judge rules he didn’t violate ‘sore loser’ law
US Olympic track and field trials highlights: Athing Mu falls, Anna Hall wins heptathlon
Can’t Sleep? These Amazon Pajamas Are Comfy, Lightweight, and Just What You Need for Summer Nights
Dearica Hamby will fill in for injured Cameron Brink on 3x3 women's Olympic team in Paris
Why we love Bear Pond Books, a ski town bookstore with a French bulldog 'Staff Pup'
Will ex-gang leader held in Tupac Shakur killing get house arrest with $750K bail? Judge to decide
Boxer Roy Jones Jr.’s Son DeAndre Dead at 32
Maui ponders its future as leaders consider restricting vacation rentals loved by tourists