(Illustration: Jess Lemont (@BrewCrewJess))
A couple weeks ago my colleague Enrique Bakemeyer wrote about the seemingly never-ending conundrum of publicly financed sports facilities and more specifically, the sales tax for the five-county metro area that was initiated to finance and construct Miller Park.
According to Don Walker of the Journal Sentinel, once the principal and interest have been paid off and a fund set up for stadium maintenance, the sales tax can be retired.
That retirement may not be until five, seven or more years from now, though, because nearly $200 million is still owed.
So my thought, in light of the recent update on the “Selig Experience” to debut at Miller Park this May: Wouldn’t it be a fine, upstanding and politically advantageous move for all involved if former Brewers owner, MLB commissioner and notable Milwaukeean Bud Selig paid a substantial portion of the remaining balance?
Everyone knows Bud is now well heeled. He’s getting a huge annual pension according to ESPN’s Buster Olney.
Bud Selig's compensation in retirement — his MLB pension, if you will — will be about $6 million annually.
— Buster Olney (@Buster_ESPN) December 19, 2014
If true, that would put him at a figure of at least $6 million annually for the rest of his life on top of the massive amount of dough he’s banked already over the years in selling the Brewers, calling the shots for MLB, and other endeavors.
Of course Selig, though mostly viewed with Brewers-eyed glasses around the Milwaukee area, is also remembered for less favorable things than returning baseball to the city of Milwaukee and by extension, the state of Wisconsin.
Selig has done some remarkably great things for the game of baseball (interleague play, revenue sharing, financial prosperity and the relationship with the union, etc.). But Selig’s reputation is blemished by the steroids era, the 2002 All-Star fiasco, and yes, the Miller Park tax.
A grand final gesture from Selig would be a major cash contribution toward the solvency of Milwaukee’s sports future. Namely, the ability to take a big step to move on from the debt and interest on Miller Park so that the city and state can move on to the next project(s).
That future, like it or not, is tackling the overdue issue of keeping our other major league club in town, the Milwaukee Bucks. Face it sports fans, the Bucks deserve the community’s help as much as the Brewers do. Teams keep the city and state on the major league level nationally and globally and bring in important tourism and revenue. Teams also are important for the social fabric of the state and for getting through Wisconsin winters, to name a couple things.
I’m not the kind of person to get upset about a small tax, even if that tax lingers around for a long time. I would always vote for important infrastructure and the city’s future over a few more dollars in my pocket. The amenities we all invest in are things everyone can use for the foreseeable future.
These investments last generations. The rich likely will get richer regardless of what happens. Closing one’s mind to investment in the public sphere is like saying we should just close the libraries because one person doesn’t use them. There is still something in 2015 called the public and common good. That common good is worth the time, effort and dollars it takes to keep it around, healthy and viable.
But since Selig, a man with tens if not hundreds of millions of dollars at his disposal, is now retired from baseball, and barring any state laws against this proposal, would it not be an excellently fitting way for Selig to set sail to proper retirement? He could spend some of his reported net worth of $400,000,000 with a little philanthropy helping pay down the principal on the tax debt that remains from Milwaukee’s heroic effort to keep the Brewers around.
What a beautiful gesture that would be. Except it would be a lot more than simply a gesture.
The Miller Park sales tax began in 1996. Grunge and Brit pop were still hanging on in 1996. Bill Clinton was president. The Internet was still pooping its pants.
Sure, there was bitterness in the birth of the Miller Park tax. That animosity remains to this day but in some ways the sheer longevity of the tax is among its most aggravating components for many folks.
It’s hard for many to envision, to even comprehend, helping the Bucks with tax money, even if it ultimately benefits everyone in Wisconsin, simply because the Brewers are still not done sorting their tax problem.
Bud Selig doesn’t have to pay the thing off himself. Maybe he could, maybe he couldn’t. Maybe individuals aren’t even allowed to pay these things off per state law. I don’t know.
What I do know: His statue at Miller Park would be much, much more universally revered if he’d help put the Miller Park sales tax to bed.
The Bucks crisis needs to be addressed.
The “Selig Experience” is incomplete.
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