Wisconsin Report Finds Little Economic Impact From Stadiums

(pictured above: rendering of new proposed Milwaukee soccer/theater complex by Kahler Slater)

Only a couple of days after I published my last post on the potential for, and difficulties of, an "American Family Field District," a report released by the Center on Wisconsin Strategy (with the appropriate acronym of COWS) found that Milwaukee would stand to benefit very little economically from a proposed new, publicly-funded soccer stadium near the Marquette Campus.  Milwaukee is billing this new stadium and district as the "Iron District" in trying to entice the city to back this sports-related development, and is largely playing up the perceived success of the Deer District as its case study.  If the project does go through, it would inhabit a swath of vacant and/or underdeveloped land near the Marquette Interchange downtown, and would be completed by 2024.

It's important to note that this report was done for one specific soccer stadium that does not exist yet, so it is not an apples-to-apples comparison to an existing baseball stadium, but this report does reference two major studies that show the "majority of economists agree that sports projects do not actually provide the benefits touted by developers."  There is a lot to unpack here that I'm not going to regurgitate or try to solve in one post - Urban Milwaukee recaps it very well here, and here is the COWS report - but I will just say that it is really important and interesting to discern between the wool being pulled over the public's eyes when things like a Deer District are proposed, and what the actual results are.  As I eluded to in my last post, the Deer District is actually creating very little new public economic impact and is really just pulling business away from other places.  That's not to say that the perception of developed land, or increased tax base, or being a "big league city" with a pro sports franchise, or providing more public entertainment options do not all have intrinsic value because they do, but it is not the economic boon that is often promised.  When you factor in the massive public subsidies, and millionaire athletes rarely living in and supporting the immediate communities which the team/stadium serve, the return is negligible at best.  The main selling point of the new Bucks arena was that it if this does not get built, then the Bucks will leave and be a huge blow to the city, but in reality the team could leave tomorrow and the local economic impact would be miniscule.  This is due to something called the "substitution effect" which basically states that anybody willing to spend money on one form of entertainment will likely just spend that money somewhere else instead, rather than pocket the money.  One need look no further than how people spent all of their spare income on Amazon and home goods during the pandemic as proof of that.  Numerous studies of positive land appreciation from the NBA Supersonics moving away from Seattle is another more topical example of this effect.

Repeated analysis like this think tank report is one of the major reasons I was skeptical of the Deer District when it was built, and to bring this back to the topic of baseball, it's a reason I would be very skeptical of anything successful being built around American Family Field.  Milwaukee has many problems and shouldn't try to leverage another entertainment option out of the Brewers as some sort of false flag to bring in money.  The investment into impoverished communities and existing infrastructure is way more important and financially beneficial in the long term.  And an absentee millionaire owner like Mark Attanasio certainly does not need this district either.  We'll see where this goes but an already cash-strapped city like Milwaukee has plenty of other things it should be spending its money - like repairing the street I live on!

STANDINGS AND UPCOMING SERIES AS OF 8/8/22:

Brewers 58-50, -2.0, -1.5 WC; 2 v. Rays, 3 @ Cardinals, 4 v. Dodgers, 3 @ Cubs

Twins 57-51, +1.0; 2 @ Dodgers, 3 @ Angels, 3 v. Royals, 4 v. Rangers

2022 GAMES ATTENDED:

Erik - 1

Peter - 15