The Milwaukee Brewers and Tampa Bay Rays appear to have reached agreements on stadium improvements and a new stadium, respectively, that will keep both clubs rooted for decades to come.
As reported by CBS affiliate WISC in Madison, members of the Wisconsin State Legislators announced Monday that they have reached a stadium deal with the Brewers to make improvements to American Family Field and keep the team in Milwaukee through at lest 2050 through a combination of state and local funds.
The $700 million deal would include a $400 million contribution from the state, which owns the ballpark through the Southeast Wisconsin Professional Baseball Park District. The state portion of the funding would come from the income tax raised by players' salaries. Roughly $200 million would come from the city and county of Milwaukee, with another roughly $100 million coming from the team itself.
The local contribution for Milwaukee would amount to $5 million annually for the county and $2.5 million for the city. Milwaukee has recently faced a city's version of bankruptcy, voting this summer to raise a local sales tax to support local revenue.
"People have asked how does it benefit Spooner, Wisconsin, Eau Claire, Wisconsin, Rhinelander, Wisconsin," said Rep. Rob Brooks, R-Saukville, speaking at a news conference in Milwaukee Monday morning. "One percent of all the sales here, go to every community in the state … so every community in the state of Wisconsin benefits from keeping the Brewers again. It's cheaper to keep them."
Meanwhile, the Tampa Bay Times reports that the Rays are set to make a major announcement Tuesday regarding completion of a deal to build a new stadium in downtown St. Petersburg, near the current Tropicana Field site, to open in time for the 2028 season.
Based on preliminary information shared in January, the stadium is expected to have a fixed dome and a synthetic turf field, seat around 30,000 fans and cost in excess of $1.2 billion, with contributions from the team, St. Petersburg and Pinellas County.
The announcement is being made jointly by the team, city and county, and is also expected to include representatives of the global Hines Co., which is partnering with the Rays on the larger redevelopment of the 86-acre Historic Gas Plant District.
The agreement will provide a new home for the team following the 2027 completion of a 30-year lease at Tropicana Field and is expected to lead to increased revenues via higher attendance and more sponsorship deals that team officials say will allow them to improve facilities and increase player payroll.
It will conclude a search that has spanned 16 years and included proposed sites and projects on both sides of Tampa Bay. Though low attendance at Tropicana Field led team ownership to get permission from St. Petersburg in 2016 to explore building a new stadium in Tampa and have continued talks, they never got close to working out a financing package, according to Mark Topkin of the Times.
