(The Center Square) – Milwaukee Brewers’ owner Mark Attanasio is getting criticized in Wisconsin for his reported plans to boost his investment in an English soccer club.
The BBC reported that Attanasio is looking to increase his stake in the Norwich City club to 40%. Attanasio bought a 16% stake in the club last year.
Attanasio didn’t comment in the BBC piece, or in a follow-up in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
His decision to spend more on Norwich City comes as he is asking Wisconsin taxpayers for hundreds of millions of dollars to repair the Brewers’ ballpark, American Family Field.
“And at the same time begging Wisconsin taxpayers to bail him out for lavish stadium upgrades…? Weird,” Americans For Prosperity Wisconsin Director Megan Novak said on social media Tuesday. “Also – the Brewers paid half a million dollars in 6 months for lobbying but apparently couldn’t afford a PR consultant to tell the owner that this story probably doesn’t help his bailout cause?”
State Sen. Chris Larson, D-Milwaukee, made the same point about Attanasio’s reported investment.
“So he can afford to upgrade his own @Brewers stadium? Great! That settles that,” Larson said in a Tweet.
Larson has been a longtime critic of the idea Wisconsin taxpayers should pay for renovations and upgrades at American Family Field.
Attanasio said the stadium district, which owns the ballpark, is running out of money and will need an infusion of cash soon.
The latest plan would tax the ballplayers, both from the Brewers and other teams, to pay for about $400 million in repairs.
Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, R-Rochester, last week said the details on that plan may come this week.
Without taxpayer money, both Vos and Attanasio say American Family Field may go to rot.
The ballpark is owned and run by the public Southeast Wisconsin Professional Baseball Park District, which means the stadium would continue to cost taxpayers even if the Brewers were to eventually leave.
