Post#25 » by MickeyDavis » Thu May 25, 2023 1:55 pm
Some details from the JS
Here are some broad areas which make up that $448 million tab − which is the legal obligation of the Southeast Professional Baseball Park District, the state-created agency that owns the ballpark and leases it to the Brewers.
Architecture/interiors is the costliest category: $105.7 million
The most costly category of expenses is broadly classified in the reports as architecture and interiors.
That category features a wide variety of items such as replacing the stadium's glass panels beyond the outfield, seat replacements, suite upgrades, retail space improvements and concourse replacements.
That recommended work has a focus on creating new spaces for groups to congregate with additional kitchens to support those spaces.
That includes areas geared toward young adult fans to "provide a unique space for socializing while the game becomes background entertainment, rather than their primary reason for being at the Ballpark," according to a report prepared for the Brewers by Venue Solutions Group, a consulting firm based in Brentwood, Tennessee.
"The most pressing issues for the Ballpark concern its relevance in the face of changing fan demographics and how fans consume the game action, the need for new and updated social spaces, and maintaining the Ballpark as a top-tier Major League ballpark as required by the Lease," it said.
The category's cost estimate is $105.7 million, the VSG report said.
The state's consultant, Denver-based CAA Icon, estimated this cost category in a range as high as $168.7 million − a nearly 63% increase from the VSG cost estimate.
Total cost estimates vary from $428 million to $604 million
The VSG report noted the Brewers lease requires the stadium district to pay for improvements present in at least 75% of all other Major League Baseball stadiums.
The lease also says the district must replace or repair infrastructure items consistent with the replacement items of the top 25% of all MLB parks.
Those standards make it challenging to plan long-term improvements, the report said.
The CAA Icon report said VSG's approach to estimating long-term costs was "not uncommon" but also "particularly subjective in the area of Architectural and Interiors."
Another factor is the timing of the renovations. If they occur earlier in that 20-year term, they will be less expensive than if they are deferred − with the two reports making different assumptions on that issue.
CAA Icon's review said the entire renovation tab could total $540 million to $604 million. The Evers administration and the Brewers agreed to the $428 million estimate from VSG, with another $20 million to cover inflation's effects on those costs.
"We're willing to live with the lower number," said Rick Schlesinger, Brewers president of business operations.
That $448 million would be covered by the proposed $290 million payment; interest earned on that payment, which would be deposited in an escrow account operated by the stadium district, and $70 million from the stadium district's current reserve fund.
Retractable roof is a major cost driver at $37.1 million
The retractable roof was viewed as a game changer for the Brewers when the stadium, then known as Miller Park, opened in 2001.
The team's owners, then led by future Major League Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig, said having a retractable roof would ensure the Brewers would no longer have rain-outs. That would bring more ticket sales, he said, including for those fans driving longer distances to Milwaukee for overnight stays.
The ball club, which Selig sold in 2005 to a group led by Mark Attanasio, on average has been drawing roughly 1 million more fans per year compared with the team's previous home, County Stadium.
The costs for future repairs and maintenance to the roof is estimated at $37.1 million. That's according to both VSG and CAA Icon.
Technology is another big cost category--totaling $99.8 million
Another big cost category is labeled as technology − totaling $99.8 million, according to VSG.
That area features such items as the ballpark's sound system, video production and display, security cameras, broadcast equipment and an upgrade of the scoreboard LED graphics.
Structure category at $62.5 million includes parking lots, walkways
The structure category includes resurfacing American Family Field's parking lots and replacing the walkways and pedestrian plaza. Structural concrete and steel repairs ranging from low to high priority also are needed.
That category's work will eventually total $62.5 million.
Other categories include elevators, concessions totaling $123.3 million
Other broad expense categories include "vertical transportation," i.e., elevators and escalators, at $16 million; concessions infrastructure, $17 million, and mechanical, electrical, plumbing and fire protection systems, $55.8 million.
Finally, items categorized as miscellaneous add up to $34.5 million.
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