(The Center Square) – A report looking at potential developments on the property adjacent to the Milwaukee Brewers’ American Family Field highlights three potential location options estimated to cost between $700 to $800 million for developing a combination of multi-family residences, hotels, office space and stores near the stadium.
But the premise that developing those offerings near a sports stadium would help the businesses or community and is worth public funding or incentives is something that economists who have studied similar projects across the country have repeatedly shown does not work.
“It’s just your standard, for-hire, contracted report,” economist J.C. Bradbury of Georgia’s Kennesaw State University said to TCS. “… Clearly it gives the impression that this is a worthwhile project that’s going to create something useful and I just don’t see anything useful in here that is convincing.”
Bradbury said that, in general, stadiums are not good development anchors and “I don’t see anything in here that would change my mind.”
The report was required to be completed by last week under the terms of the financial agreement with Wisconsin leaders that included $366 million from state taxpayers and $135 million from taxpayers in Milwaukee and Milwaukee County for American Family Field over the 27 years as the Brewers agreed to stay in the state until 2050.
The funding includes $67.5 million from both Milwaukee County and the city of Milwaukee.
Brewers president of business operations Rick Schlesinger told media in a statement that “There’s no doubt American Family Field is a strong economic engine for the region” but that is not backed up by numbers anywhere in the country.
Bradbury has extensively studied the Atlanta Braves’ Truist Park and the neighboring Battery development and has shown that the development costs Cobb County taxpayers about $15 million a year while a recent study from Bradbury and Berry College’s E. Frank Stevenson showed that the Braves’ stadium and development did not have a meaningful impact on hotel night stays in the county or in close proximity to the stadium.
Those findings are consistent with findings related to sports stadiums and events across the country.
The Brewers’ development report from consultants Brailsford & Dunlavey was recently presented to the Wisconsin Professional Baseball Park District before the deadline but the district made it clear it was not an endorsement of development, which the team, park district and Milwaukee entities would need to approve.
“While the District is not the entity to initiate or perform any redevelopment activity, this report and the information provided may be used to guide potential redevelopment planning and identifies opportunities as well as the challenges that will need to be addressed to make redevelopment of the site possible,” district facility manager Brian Dworak said in a statement.
The report recommended that, since the property is currently not subject to property taxes, any development should be subject to a Payment In Lieu of Property taxes agreement called a PILOT that could pay for new infrastructure needed at the site and provide an equal playing field with nearby businesses that are subject to property taxes.
