American Family Field funding, mayor pushes for 'Beer District'
MILWAUKEE - Milwaukee Mayor Cavalier Johnson called on leaders to transform some American Family Field parking spaces into an entertainment district as state lawmakers unveiled a plan to fund repairs and renovations.
With 13,000 parking spots, American Family Field has 2,000 more than Disney's EPCOT – and the city is actually still paying for some of the original infrastructure. Now, there's fresh debate over how much more money could come with a "Beer District" occupying space that sits vacant hundreds of days each year.
"I don’t want the Brewers and American Family Field to be in a position where 20 years from now where we’re looking at, again, just a sea of parking, when there is bigger, better, higher use for surface parking lots," Johnson said. "There’s any number of things that could happen. There could be housing, could be restaurants, there could be apartments, there could be hotels. I mean there’s any number of things. You don’t have to look far and wide to see examples."
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The mayor cited the Milwaukee Bucks' Deer District outside Fiserv Forum and the Green Bay Packers' Titletown outside Lambeau Field, as well as the Wisconsin Badgers' Camp Randall Stadium atmosphere.
"I think I've heard a lot of people talk about these great development plans for the parking lots, and they are all very interesting," said Rick Schlesinger, Brewers president of business operations.
American Family Field
Schlesinger said a "Beer District" could come some day, but balked at the idea of it happening anytime soon.
"I’m very protective of our tailgating culture. We have some of the largest parking lots of any Major League stadium, and that’s important for fans," he said. "I want to make it easier for fans to come here and tailgate and park. I don't want to make it tougher. I'm very sensitive to real estate development that would encroach upon our culture of tailgating. Having said that, are there opportunities in the future to look at that? For sure."
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"They have a lot of parking. They’ve got a lot of parking. I think they’re smart enough to figure out how to incorporate development over at American Family Field and still keep enough parking for people to be able to tailgate," Johnson said.
A 2020 Metropolitan Milwaukee Association of Commerce-commissioned study found how much people going to games were spending outside the ballpark. The average city fan spent $6.39 out of the ballpark. Fans from the rest of the state spent an average of $12, and out-of-state fans spent an average $142 outside the park.
Funding curveball
Wisconsin Republicans' proposal to fund American Family Field repairs would mandate the city and county pay.
The bill calls for $5 million per year from Milwaukee County and $2.5 million per year from the city of Milwaukee. If they don’t pay, the bill says the state will then dock it from the city and county’s shared revenue.
Tuesday, Milwaukee Common Council members said were concerned with the possible funding curveball.
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American Family Field repairs, plan; $600M+ in taxpayer funding
Wisconsin Republicans outlined their bill Monday to spend more than $600 million in taxpayer money on American Family Field.
"This Common Council of course wants the Milwaukee Brewers to stay here in Milwaukee," said Ald. Marina Dimitrijevic.
Jonathan Brostoff. "This will create a hole in our budget going forward that we were not expecting, so we continue to be concerned about those negotiations.
"We’ve got to stick up for the taxpayers of our community and say that the money should be going back to us, not being siphoned out to these extreme corporate welfare projects."
The money would go to the governmental body that owns the ballpark. The Brewers' current lease requires that park board to pay for capitol improvements, which the team estimates will cost more than $400 million.