THERE THEY GO AGAIN.

Stadium subsidies are among the worst uses of tax money.  They're also convenient instruments by which teams, or their leagues, can hold up the taxpayers.

I’m talking about the stadium situation in Milwaukee and the future of the Brewers there.

We don’t think of the Brewers as among the teams with “stadium issues,” but earlier this year Commissioner Rob Manfred, in discussing the need to provide for quality facilities in Milwaukee, reminded folks of the situation in Oakland, where the A’s are planning to relocate to Las Vegas in the near future because of an inability to get a new stadium plan completed with/funded by the city.

American Family Field is publicly-owned by a state agency, and therefore the upkeep is publicly-provided, which means there does have to be some public pressure when it comes time to upkeep/update the facilities. This seems to be the year for it in Milwaukee and Wisconsin with respect to the Brewers, and the team wants to ensure that legislation is passed by this fall that would provide for improvements to the ballpark. Manfred’s remarks, therefore, were seen as a bit of a heavy: “Nice team you got here. It’d be a shame if it had to leave … “

But now, it’s not just a generic reminder from the league’s Commissioner. It’s the team, itself, starting to make some noise about looking into relocating if necessary.

The Brewers might currently be leading a division that no team really wants to win; but in the political economy of stadium subsidies, that's always money that no entity really wants to spend.

I would call this a pretty significant escalation of the situation, since a team is not going to want to be perceived as holding the city/state hostage for more cash to improve their facilities. It’s a lot easier when MLB and the Commissioner can play the part of subtle bad guy from afar. That’s just MLB doing it’s thing. But when it’s the LOCAL team playing hardball with the LOCAL community, that can be seen as quite a bit uglier, right or wrong.

Not that I want to defend the Brewers – ever – but in this case, it sounds like the bare minimum expenses associated with necessary upkeep are set to outpace the actual funding made available by the state legislature. Since the state is effectively the owner of the ballpark, then, it seems pretty reasonable to expect them to allocate funding to ensure that the ballpark is worth playing in for the next 7+ years (the term of the lease). And if the state is NOT going to do that, then the team really does have to start exploring its options elsewhere pretty soon, because the relocation process can take years.

Read the report for the nitty gritty on funding in Wisconsin, why the city of Milwaukee doesn’t want to provide the funding, and where else the Brewers could look to move if it comes to that. My read is that, for now, this is pretty standard negotiating-through-the-press-and-for-the-public stuff, with the Brewers wanting to make sure their facilities are improved as much as possible, without them having to foot any of the bill themselves. It’s clear SOME funding will have to be allocated by the legislature at some point over the next few years, but it’s probably a lot less than the Brewers/MLB are seeking. Eventually, I’m sure a deal will get done.

The political economy gets amusing.  Raise the issue of state residents who might live in Twins country having to pay taxes for a Milwaukee stadium: prepare for back-and-forth about the tourism dollars that show up in Milwaukee, or not, if those tourists bring tailgating supplies with them, eat before the game, and spend nothing on concessions inside or eateries or hotels in the Milwaukee area.  Call the whole notion of stadium subsidies a regressive transfer to owners and player: prepare for argumentam ad anecdotam about those parking lot attendants and beer vendors, perhaps from some protected status communities, whose very livelihoods are at stake if the stadium is empty.  Sometimes, the politicians defending the stadium subsidies on those grounds are the very same people who use "trickle down" as a pejorative.  Apparently, it's not, as far as the pouring of the beer is concerned.

There's something similar going on in Baltimore, where this year's Orioles are summoning the echoes of Earl Weaver and Spiro Agnew.  "Study after study after study has shown government subsidies of sports stadiums do not boost economic growth—they merely cost taxpayers money. Yet politicians continuously bow down to billionaire team owners."  No, they're doing it for the children beer vendors.