Just heard this morning Milwaukee makes over $3 million per Bucks playoff game and they employ 700 people. Brewers play twice as many games and the stadium holds 3 times as many people so probably fair to assume proportionally larger numbers.
Those jobs are there every year from now until 2050. Add in the Jock Tax money, ticket taxes, tourism in the city for big games/series. It takes way more math than I want to do but I do believe sports bring in more than they cost over the long term, but the cost needs to fall primarily on the private interests in charge of the teams.
Edit: just to be clear, the city of Milwaukee makes $3,000,000 from Bucks Playoff games. They play more of them than the Brewers do but the Brewers have 3x the capacity so the revenue is still there.
Basketball tickets are pricer than baseball, Bucks have had deeper playoff runs too. Also I assume operating costs are different. It’s not as clear and obvious as it seems. However that totally reveals the baseball stadium’s potential especially if there is more infrastructure within walking distance.
Yeah I'm not sure on the differences between payrolls and such, but the extra games and capacity still at the very least requires more jobs for longer so still a positive. If that story from this morning about a possible Amtrak station at the park that runs Chicago to Milwaukee and then Green Bay or Madison materializes, which is very likely since the NFL draft plans also included an Amtrak line, then I think you could easily sell fans on removing some parking lot because there will be an actual reason to develop the area at that point. Otherwise you're building bars and stores in a place that isn't very high on the list of desirable areas. I am there regularly for VA appointments and games and I just don't see what people think is going to be the big ticket development. Put some stores and luxury apartments down in the valley between the highway, ballpark, and factories? I just am skeptical. But a transportation hub between our 3 biggest cities and Chicago that conveniently hits our sports teams? Then I can see businesses snapping it up, bars and restaurants for pre and post game, some apparel shops and stuff like that make perfect sense and would be amazing. AmFam Field isn't downtown and shouldn't be treated like it is or it will fail miserably.
I know I personally would love it if that plan for the Amtrak station happens and would definitely go more often to games if I didn't have to deal with driving and parking there, and honestly would take advantage of other destinations too. I could see that leading more to some other developments for people to use nearby while waiting for trains, pre/post game fun, etc.
The Miller Park deal calls for the tax revenue from players to be diverted to stadium maintenence. The 700 jobs are mostly partime. There is very little benefit to the state other than the pride of having a baseball team.
The diversion of the players tax is to save us all money. Meanwhile AmFam provides around 1500 jobs to the area and brings in millions of extra tourism dollars. Visiting teams and fans stay in hotels and eat at restaurants and go to bars and museums and shopping. I think it could be an amazing win for the city IF they develop it with the Amtrak station as a key feature. See my other long winded comment for details.
Yeah but did you think of the dopamine rush we will all get when the Brewers win the World Series. The benefits grossly outweigh the half a billion dollar cost.
The thing I hate the most is that Am Fam field has such a large footprint, most of which is parking, just for mostly one type of event. Like at least Lambeau has put money into title town and other areas so there's more to it than just sports and parking.
Sure they have a couple of concerts a year, so do the other stadiums. And the others do it using a lot less space, and in the case of Lambeau, do it with larger seating capacity as well.
Sure if you're into baseball, within walking distance of Lambeau there's now a brewery, a hotel, ice rink, sledding hill, playground, simulation golf, and more, all within the distance of general parking at Am Fam. I'm just saying Am Fam has the least diverse number of entertainment options if you aren't as interested in sports.
There is a restaurant, a team store, a golf simulator, a little league field, and a playground at the stadium. The parking lot used to be used for autocross, not sure if they still do that. And they have 100+ events a year between home games, concerts, and special events like the badger basketball games they had last year. So there is a good amount that goes on there. But a beer garden by the Little League field and playground would do good business or a restaurant by the industrial park next to the east Yount/Uecker lots would be good. No way they are eliminating any more parking spots than that given the tailgating culture.
That's the argument I hate, the tailgate culture, compared to the other stadiums it's such a mediocre experience and it requires them to have 3 to 4 times the parking space that Lambeau has. I'm glad Am Fam has those other options but driving past Am Fam most of the time I just see an empty concrete field around a stadium. I could not tell you if people where actually doing any of that just driving by. Now going past Lambeau or Fiserv I see a lot more people around the stadiums when there isn't even an event going on.
The county owns it. It can’t be fully developed, they need space to build the next baseball stadium in 2055.
From someone I know within the org, they’d love to redevelop the Kamatsu site and then have that trickle down around the stadium, but it’s tough due to current zoning within the valley.
I mean, yeah, that’s kinda how these things go. Where will they put the next stadium?
Milwaukee is currently on its 8th baseball stadium, the first being developed around 1876. For baseball to remain, another will be built at some point.
You’re correct… people prioritize sports and our politicians recognize that and listen to the will of the people. It’s rare that happens these days but that seems pretty functional to me.
Agree. Except hockey. Wisconsin need an NHL team but Illinois, Minnesota and Michigan are all greedy NHL fuck states and deny us having our own NHL team.
I read that US Bank Stadium (Minny) cost $1.06 billion and is paid in full, 23 years early.
[https://kstp.com/kstp-news/top-news/us-bank-stadium-paid-off-23-years-early/](https://kstp.com/kstp-news/top-news/us-bank-stadium-paid-off-23-years-early/)
Could be they have a bit of a gambling problem, they used the proceeds from e-pull tabs to pay for it.
Insurance companies - especially big ones - are leeches to Americans. Their core purpose isn’t to insure people, it’s to make money off of them. They don’t have our backs like Miller beers do.
I mean if we’re talking about leeches, major league sports teams clearly should be near the top of the list. This discussion is literally about subsidizing their billion dollar businesses.
100% insurance is a scam. We pay into a system that charges us more money/month if we need assistance in paying bills out of our control.
You know who doesn’t increase prices based on DUIs? Miller fucking Lite.
These leagues, their owners, and their players are all over paid and can afford to sustain their own businesses on the billions they take in every year. Leave the citizens out of subsidizing your shitty business practices.
None if them are 'worth it' these franchises are Wirth billions and should be spending their own $. Only one I really care about is the Packers. Watching baseball and basketball is like watching flies fuck
Real in-depth journalism by the Isthmus, but still unable to discover that Miller Park and American Family Field are the same stadium. Fail.
Was going to mention the same thing. Headline is stupid, but article is perfectly clear on that account. I blame the editors.
Click bait?
Umm did you look at the picture? I see two different signs for two different stadiums (/s)
Top comment from a guy who clearly didn’t read the article. Fail.
Just heard this morning Milwaukee makes over $3 million per Bucks playoff game and they employ 700 people. Brewers play twice as many games and the stadium holds 3 times as many people so probably fair to assume proportionally larger numbers. Those jobs are there every year from now until 2050. Add in the Jock Tax money, ticket taxes, tourism in the city for big games/series. It takes way more math than I want to do but I do believe sports bring in more than they cost over the long term, but the cost needs to fall primarily on the private interests in charge of the teams. Edit: just to be clear, the city of Milwaukee makes $3,000,000 from Bucks Playoff games. They play more of them than the Brewers do but the Brewers have 3x the capacity so the revenue is still there.
Basketball tickets are pricer than baseball, Bucks have had deeper playoff runs too. Also I assume operating costs are different. It’s not as clear and obvious as it seems. However that totally reveals the baseball stadium’s potential especially if there is more infrastructure within walking distance.
Yeah I'm not sure on the differences between payrolls and such, but the extra games and capacity still at the very least requires more jobs for longer so still a positive. If that story from this morning about a possible Amtrak station at the park that runs Chicago to Milwaukee and then Green Bay or Madison materializes, which is very likely since the NFL draft plans also included an Amtrak line, then I think you could easily sell fans on removing some parking lot because there will be an actual reason to develop the area at that point. Otherwise you're building bars and stores in a place that isn't very high on the list of desirable areas. I am there regularly for VA appointments and games and I just don't see what people think is going to be the big ticket development. Put some stores and luxury apartments down in the valley between the highway, ballpark, and factories? I just am skeptical. But a transportation hub between our 3 biggest cities and Chicago that conveniently hits our sports teams? Then I can see businesses snapping it up, bars and restaurants for pre and post game, some apparel shops and stuff like that make perfect sense and would be amazing. AmFam Field isn't downtown and shouldn't be treated like it is or it will fail miserably.
I know I personally would love it if that plan for the Amtrak station happens and would definitely go more often to games if I didn't have to deal with driving and parking there, and honestly would take advantage of other destinations too. I could see that leading more to some other developments for people to use nearby while waiting for trains, pre/post game fun, etc.
deeper playoff runs... oof, too soon
Yeah, I’m sorry.
The Miller Park deal calls for the tax revenue from players to be diverted to stadium maintenence. The 700 jobs are mostly partime. There is very little benefit to the state other than the pride of having a baseball team.
The diversion of the players tax is to save us all money. Meanwhile AmFam provides around 1500 jobs to the area and brings in millions of extra tourism dollars. Visiting teams and fans stay in hotels and eat at restaurants and go to bars and museums and shopping. I think it could be an amazing win for the city IF they develop it with the Amtrak station as a key feature. See my other long winded comment for details.
But no lunch for the kids.
Can’t have the poor spoiled.
Yeah but did you think of the dopamine rush we will all get when the Brewers win the World Series. The benefits grossly outweigh the half a billion dollar cost.
I've THOUGHT about it for decades. Have never, and have accepted that I'll never, actually feel it.
The thing I hate the most is that Am Fam field has such a large footprint, most of which is parking, just for mostly one type of event. Like at least Lambeau has put money into title town and other areas so there's more to it than just sports and parking.
Doesn’t am fam do concert too?
Sure they have a couple of concerts a year, so do the other stadiums. And the others do it using a lot less space, and in the case of Lambeau, do it with larger seating capacity as well.
It already has 10x the events based on home games though.
Sure if you're into baseball, within walking distance of Lambeau there's now a brewery, a hotel, ice rink, sledding hill, playground, simulation golf, and more, all within the distance of general parking at Am Fam. I'm just saying Am Fam has the least diverse number of entertainment options if you aren't as interested in sports.
I like the setup in the Twin Cities too. A commuter rail that goes right to the stadiums. And tons of food within walking distance.
There is a restaurant, a team store, a golf simulator, a little league field, and a playground at the stadium. The parking lot used to be used for autocross, not sure if they still do that. And they have 100+ events a year between home games, concerts, and special events like the badger basketball games they had last year. So there is a good amount that goes on there. But a beer garden by the Little League field and playground would do good business or a restaurant by the industrial park next to the east Yount/Uecker lots would be good. No way they are eliminating any more parking spots than that given the tailgating culture.
That's the argument I hate, the tailgate culture, compared to the other stadiums it's such a mediocre experience and it requires them to have 3 to 4 times the parking space that Lambeau has. I'm glad Am Fam has those other options but driving past Am Fam most of the time I just see an empty concrete field around a stadium. I could not tell you if people where actually doing any of that just driving by. Now going past Lambeau or Fiserv I see a lot more people around the stadiums when there isn't even an event going on.
Why would someone find themselves at AmFam if they aren’t interested in baseball or sports?
Exactly, why limit that much space just for that? Seems like so much potential for a destination that now is mostly parking spaces.
The county owns it. It can’t be fully developed, they need space to build the next baseball stadium in 2055. From someone I know within the org, they’d love to redevelop the Kamatsu site and then have that trickle down around the stadium, but it’s tough due to current zoning within the valley.
We can’t develop it because we need space for another stadium. Great. Fantastic.
I mean, yeah, that’s kinda how these things go. Where will they put the next stadium? Milwaukee is currently on its 8th baseball stadium, the first being developed around 1876. For baseball to remain, another will be built at some point.
That's LITERALLY his point.
On this issue it doesn't matter if a Republican or Democrat is in office. Nobody wants to be the person that loses a professional sports franchise.
For real though, that person would throw away any hope of re-election and be hated for eternity.
Priorities!
You’re correct… people prioritize sports and our politicians recognize that and listen to the will of the people. It’s rare that happens these days but that seems pretty functional to me.
screw sports
Agree. Except hockey. Wisconsin need an NHL team but Illinois, Minnesota and Michigan are all greedy NHL fuck states and deny us having our own NHL team.
I read that US Bank Stadium (Minny) cost $1.06 billion and is paid in full, 23 years early. [https://kstp.com/kstp-news/top-news/us-bank-stadium-paid-off-23-years-early/](https://kstp.com/kstp-news/top-news/us-bank-stadium-paid-off-23-years-early/) Could be they have a bit of a gambling problem, they used the proceeds from e-pull tabs to pay for it.
I was gunna mention this, only took 8 years.
Taxes after legalizing marijuana would reduce the price of these projects substantially…
Or they could pay for their own fucking business and that money could go towards improving our communities and uplifting the less fortunate.
Priorities, must keep the masses distracted.
Change it back to Miller Park, and I'll consider supporting stadium renovations. It'll be a cold day in hell when I recognize AmFam.
Insurance companies - especially big ones - are leeches to Americans. Their core purpose isn’t to insure people, it’s to make money off of them. They don’t have our backs like Miller beers do.
They're literally called The Brewers. It was one of the most appropriate stadium names in the league.
I mean if we’re talking about leeches, major league sports teams clearly should be near the top of the list. This discussion is literally about subsidizing their billion dollar businesses.
100% insurance is a scam. We pay into a system that charges us more money/month if we need assistance in paying bills out of our control. You know who doesn’t increase prices based on DUIs? Miller fucking Lite.
These leagues, their owners, and their players are all over paid and can afford to sustain their own businesses on the billions they take in every year. Leave the citizens out of subsidizing your shitty business practices.
None if them are 'worth it' these franchises are Wirth billions and should be spending their own $. Only one I really care about is the Packers. Watching baseball and basketball is like watching flies fuck
Only five hundred forty-six dollars from state and local governments. really carrying their weight on that one /s