SPORTS LINE
The Brewers.
American Family Field, home to the Milwaukee Brewers, could become a year around venue. The newest plan to fund the Milwaukee Brewers stadium improvements will come with a hefty price tag including roughly $20 to $25 million to winterize the park. Part of the price of the improvements would be paid by taxpayers, but only those of Milwaukee and Milwaukee County, whose money would cover about $200 million of the $700 million funding bill. The buzz is to create something like the Deer District downtown by the Fiserv Forum and make American Family Field a year around destination. Fiserv Forum can host events during winter months and even on the nights when the lights are out at the arena. Deer District boasts several restaurants, bars, and third-space opportunities. There is a ‘sea of parking’ around the stadium, with roughly 12,000 parking spots (90 acres) for those who enjoy tailgating before the big game. That’s about four times as many spots as Lambeau Field. Some feel placing development on some of this space could be mutually beneficial. Commercial development at the ballpark’s parking lots could generate property tax revenue for the City of Milwaukee and Milwaukee County. The $700 million Republican plan would keep the Brewers in Milwaukee through 2050, including $400 million from the state through taxes generated on player salaries, $200 million from Milwaukee and Milwaukee County and $100 million from the Brewers.
The Packers.
Wow! Are these new players a team to be watched, or what? They quietly won their first game, playing with childlike fun and abandon. Then, the following week, for game two, they were forced to play more of a hardball game that they narrowly lost by one point (the coach made a ridiculously idiotic call). This week, well, they were back to their ‘fun to watch’ antics, doing not much of anything until the other team was ahead 17 to nothing at the half (first time in many years at Lambeau that the team has been shut out in the first half). The coach had some butt-warming to do in the locker room, which he sure as hell did. The heat went from tepid to boiling.
The Pack came out and went on an 18-point unanswered run, all the way to a one-point victory (the other team missed a nearly unmissable field goal in the final seconds). Who will lead the NFC division by next Monday, since the other team currently tied with Green Bay for that spot is none other than the Detroit Lions, the team the Pack is playing? Can Detroit handle the upstart and adolescent ‘wolf’ pack? Aaron Rodgers sits at home, his leg raised in recovery, no doubt watching with an intensity he’s not known for years, since well before he tucked his tail and crept away from Green Bay. New York. Really? Oh please…
