There are a lot of interesting moving parts to this situation. Some parts to this are related to politics and some to baseball, but as with any publicly financed sports facility, often it is a gray area where the two sides meet. There's obviously the money side of things, as in why should taxpayers be on the hook yet again to help fund a stadium that was already paid for by us once and whose tenant is owned by a multi-millionaire? Why should the state be providing a public subsidy when the district (landlord) is responsible for the repairs? On the other hand, this does not require any new taxes, and this proposal entirely uses surplus funds that are largely resultant from unused pandemic-era federal funds. It's also not the same political climate as it was in the 1990s when the tenth-percent sales tax was passed. That tax was proposed by a Republican governor with bi-partisan support, but even that was not without its problems as it cost a couple of state senators their careers. Here we are in 2023 in one of the most divisive political times we have ever seen, and it will be a challenge to say the least to get anybody to agree on this, if only out of spite and pride of party. On the baseball side of things, it brings to light a grim reality that it is far from a sure thing the Brewers will be in Milwaukee for my entire lifetime. Even if this budget gets passed, eventually this roof is just going to have so many problems and obsolete parts that it will become like Olympic Stadium in Montreal - the roof will have to stay permanently closed and at some point it will become far cheaper to just start over with a new ballpark. Or worse yet, finding a more lucrative handout from another city after the lease is up might become the team's best option if the city's financial situation does not improve, or if Mark Attanasio's family sells the team someday.
It will be interesting to see how this all plays out, but the fact remains that the repairs are necessary, and the money needs to come from somewhere.
22 days until Opening Day and Home Opener tickets are purchased!
UPDATE: A few hours after this post went live, Speaker of the State Assembly Robin Vos (R) announced that Evers' proposal to include Brewers stadium funding in his biennial budget was "dead."
touch with baseball when his childhood heroes Robin Yount, Paul Molitor, and Jim Gantner retired but the Great Home Run Chase of 1998 reignited his passion. As a student at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Erik became involved with the campus chapter of Habitat for Humanity. With this group Erik traveled to Portland, OR and Baltimore, MD to work on construction projects and help the group raise $25,000 to partially sponsor a house in Milwaukee. Also at UWM, Erik met Peter Nagel. The two attended their first Brewers game together during Opening Weekend 2003. Despite their failure to ignite the coals at their first tailgate, the two had a blast and were soon making weekly trips to the ballpark. Erik has gone on to several colleges and changed careers several times, and has moved all the way out to New Hampshire, but has always stayed true to his baseball roots by holding part-time stadium usher jobs. To this day he looks back fondly on his incredible cross-country journey.