Wisconsin Assembly to vote on using $546 million in taxpayer money to renovate Brewers stadium

The Wisconsin state Assembly is set to vote Tuesday on using $546 million in taxpayer money to renovate the Milwaukee Brewers stadium.

The GOP-created plan was announced a month ago, and has had no public input.

Polling suggests that 55 percent of Wisconsinites are against taxpayer dollars to fund the construction. The Brewers would contribute $100 million.

The stadium is owned by the state and leased to the Brewers. That lease runs out in 2030, but the Republican plan will extend it through 2050.

It extends the lease seven years longer than Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers’ plan from his state budget.

Those extra seven years, however, cost $256 million — or $37 million per added year — if you’re just comparing totals.

Evers’ plan was to use $290 million from Wisconsin’s $7 billion budget surplus. Republicans tossed that out of the state budget, saying they could do better.

American Family Field was completed in 2001 and cost the state $400 million to build.

The deal is likely to pass the Assembly but would face more scrutiny in the state Senate for a vote next week.

TOP PHOTO: FILE – Wisconsin Speaker of the Assembly Robin Vos is flanked by State Rep. Robert Brooks, left, and State Senator Dan Feyen as they unveil a stadium repair funding plan aimed at keeping the Milwaukee Brewers in Milwaukee at a news conference Monday, Sept. 18, 2023, at American Family Field in Milwaukee. (AP Photo/Morry Gash)