Vos: Gov. Evers Has Made Brewers’ Stadium Funding Deal More Difficult

spot_img

The top Republican in the Wisconsin Assembly sounds as if he is confident that lawmakers will find some money to repair American Family Field and keep the Brewers in Milwaukee, but he says Gov. Tony Evers is making it harder than it has to be.

Assembly Speaker Robin Vos on Thursday blasted the governor for suddenly announcing a plan earlier this week to earmark $290 million for long-term maintenance at the Brewer’s ballpark.

“You would think, like under Gov. Walker, whose leadership was to bring Democrats and Republicans together, sit in a room and figure out a deal that we can all support. And that’s why the Bucks are here in Wisconsin,” Vos told Jay Weber on News Talk 1130 WISN. “But Tony Evers is so unbelievably inept as a leader that he just drops this bomb.”

The Brewers have been working for years to find the money to take care of about $400 million in maintenance at American Family Field. The Stadium District, which is responsible for the ballpark, has about $87 million in the bank right now. That leaves a gap of about $300 million.

Vos didn’t make any promises but did say the Republican-controlled legislature will lead the conversation about closing that gap going forward.

“Tony Evers had abdicated being a leader,” Vos said. “We’re going to see if we’re going to be able to structure a deal like the Bucks, where it will be cheaper to keep them. We want to make sure that we have the players’ salaries where they pay income taxes in Wisconsin. If they leave, we lose that money.”

Back in 2016, then-Gov. Scott Walker signed a law that provided $250 million to help build Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee. That money covered about half of the total construction cost. The new arena kept the Bucks in Milwaukee. The Bucks went on to win an NBA Championship in 2021. And Fiserv has gone on to host the canceled Democratic National Convention in 2020, and is slated to host the Republican National Convention in 2024.

Vos said the Brewers need to square away American Family Field to offset the challenges of being a small market team.

“The Brewers depend much more on ticket sales and the revenue generated on the stadium site than other teams are required to do, because of their TV deals,” Vos added. “So we need a state-of-the-art facility.”

But Vos said, again, that the governor is making that much more complicated than it has to be.

“He’s really poisoned the well for an awful lot of people by pitting the taxpayers against the team, and it shouldn’t have to be that way,” Vos explained.

spot_img
ron johnson

Ron Johnson: The Story the Media — and the Government — Don’t Want You to Hear

Read about the biggest government scandal that legacy newspapers won’t touch. By U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wisconsin) On April 29, 2026, as Chairman of the Senate...
will martin

Will Martin: Celebrating Freedom & the Republican Party’s Fight to End Slavery

Will Martin is the Republican Party-endorsed candidate for Wisconsin lieutenant governor. The primary is in August. Wisconsin, the Republican Party, and Juneteenth hold a special...
terri koschnick

Wisconsin Counselors Ask Courts to Protect Their Right to Offer Christ-Centered Therapy After Evers’ Admin Ignores Law

“Government officials should not be allowed to police the private conversations I have with my clients who voluntarily seek out my advice as a...
Citizen Vote Protection Act Fentanyl Overdose Link derrick van orden

Derrick Van Orden Helped Deliver More Rural Health Care Investment – Tony Evers Falsely Tries to Take Credit

"Republicans fought to deliver meaningful investments in rural health care, and I'm proud to have helped make it happen" - U.S. Rep. Derrick Van...
tom tiffany

Father’s Day Wisdom From ‘State Dad,’ Tom Tiffany

It's Father's Day, and Tom Tiffany is a father of three. We've previously opined that he's basically the "state dad," a common sense figure...
will martin

No, Tom Tiffany and Will Martin Did NOT Split Over Juneteenth Day

Contrary to the media’s outraged reporting, Tom Tiffany and likely Republican lieutenant governor candidate Will Martin did NOT split over Juneteenth Day, which honors...
josh kaul

Josh Kaul Emerges From Hibernation, Refuses to Oppose Abolishing the Police

Josh Kaul, the laziest attorney general Wisconsin ever had (which is saying a lot since JB Van Hollen was hardly a firestorm of ambition),...
tom tiffany

Tom Tiffany Is the State Dad, Kelda Roys Is the Crazy Aunt, and Herb Kohl Did the Milk Thing First

I went for a five-mile walk inside Brookfield Square Mall today because it was raining, and, wow, has that place gone downhill. It’s a...

D-Day: 82 Years Later, I Stood on Omaha Beach, Remembering the Young Men Who Died for Liberty

'The Normandy-area folks are deeply aware of the fact that if not for the 2,500 brave young men who stormed those beaches on June...
menominee county

The Wildly Blue Wisconsin County and It’s Not Milwaukee or Dane: Menominee County’s Unusual Democrat Tilt

In a state where elections turn on 10,000-30,000 votes, every vote really matters. One county stands out dramatically in Wisconsin vote totals, wildly swinging toward...

Mandela Barnes Doesn’t Know What a Musky Looks Like, Fishing Bobbers, and the Rural Vote

Advice for Democrats. Stop posting about fish, talking about fish, and holding fish on camera if you don’t really know anything about fish and...
michael alfonso

Mike Alfonso, George Washington, Jessi Ebben’s Signature Gambit, and the Audacity of Duffy Inc.

Youthful Wisconsin congressional candidate Mike Alfonso’s online buddies have started comparing him to the Founding Fathers. It’s bad enough that they think the Marathon...

Old McDonald Had a Farm, But Tom Tiffany Really Grew Up on One

Farming is starting to define the Wisconsin governor’s race. That’s probably a good thing for Tom Tiffany because he actually grew up on one,...
sylvia ortiz-velez

Sylvia Ortiz-Velez’s Lawyer Blasts Democrat Insider Effort to Kick Her Off Ballot

Michael Chernin, the lawyer for Democrat state Rep. Sylvia Ortiz-Velez (D-Milwaukee), is blasting a new filing by the Assembly Democratic Campaign Committee seeking to...
francesca hong

Sylvia Ortiz-Velez & Francesca Hong: Democrats Go WILD on Free-Thinking Minority Women. It’s a Political ‘Witch Burning’

What do state Rep. Sylvia Ortiz-Velez and upstart gubernatorial candidate Francesca Hong have in common? They’re both outspoken anti-establishment Democrat minority women who are...
Wisconsin Supreme Court Redistricting Hearing Wisconsin should soon have an answer about ballot drop boxes and just who can return absentee ballots. wisconsin supreme court

Justice Rebecca Bradley Calls Courts’ Map Review Doing ‘Bidding of political masters’

(The Center Square) – A conservative Wisconsin Supreme Court justice called the courts’ decision to hear a case challenging the state’s congressional maps doing the “bidding of its political masters” rather than a proper decision.

The court sent an order stating that it would hear an appeal of a three-judge panel’s ruling not to hear the case but said that it would not hear the case on a requested expedited schedule.

“The Democratic Party bought multiple seats on this court to achieve yet another outcome unobtainable democratically,” Justice Rebecca Bradley wrote in dissent.

Bradley joined Justice Annette Ziegler in dissent against hear the case from the Wisconsin Business Leaders for Democracy that a three-judge panel dismissed on April 28.

“It is indeed rare that I feel compelled to object to hearing a case,” Ziegler wrote. “But here, I have concluded this is too important to stand silent. The public should be informed of the requests afoot and it should have the opportunity to stay abreast of these proceedings.

“And, of course, the briefing and arguments could cause me to conclude that this appeal was proper and relief should be granted. We shall see.”

The majority of judges took offense at Bradley’s insinuation that the decision to hear the case was politically motivated, calling the dissent “false, inappropriate, and disingenuous charges.”

“Deciding to hear a case does not reflect any weighing of the merits of any party’s claims, let alone prejudgment about who will prevail and why,” Justice Rebecca Dallet wrote. “We do not prejudge cases, and for that reason, we do not comment at this early stage on the parties’ legal theories, or try to develop arguments in favor of one side or another.”

Ziegler wrote that it was “shocking” the case would be reviewed without analysis of the jurisdiction of the case, if there is a proper claim or if there is even a right to appeal the ruling of a three-judge panel. She pointed to four other times that the Wisconsin Supreme Court had determined that the current congressional map would not be reviewed.

uw-madison Administrators at UW Schools

Republicans Push Back Against UW System Tuition Increase Proposal

(The Center Square) – Several Republican lawmakers are upset with the University of Wisconsin System’s proposal to increase tuition by 2% a year after a 5% increase.

Sen. Patrick Testin, R-Stevens Point, went as far as saying that a pair of trustees “lied to all our faces” in committee testimony when they said that tuition would not be raised again this soon.

“Unfortunately, students and their families are the ones who will be paying the price for this dishonesty,” Testin said in a statement. “At least we now know that we can no longer take the UW Board of Regents at their word.

“My Joint Finance Committee colleagues and I certainly will not forget this betrayal when the regents and UW officials come begging to us for more money during next year’s state budget deliberations. This is simply unacceptable.”

The 2% increase for resident undergraduate tuition would be effective this fall. The university said in a press release that the increase is below the current inflation rate. The increase also includes a 3.5% increase in segregated fees, which are for student services, activities, programs, and facilities. In all, it would be a 2.5% average increase across tuition, segregated fees and room and board.

“We recognize Wisconsin families are managing rising costs in every part of their lives, and that reality informed this proposal,” Universities of Wisconsin Interim President Renée Wachter said in a statement. “This is a measured increase that helps our universities continue providing strong student support and high-quality academic experiences while keeping a UW education among the most affordable in the Midwest.”

Sen. Eric Wimberger, R-Gillett, pointed out that, over the past 10 years, the system has added 2,400 non-faculty staff positions while educating 16,000 fewer students.

Wimberger said that, if the system would “eliminate their administrative bloat,” it would free up $750 million.

“UW’s leadership is continuing to pass its payroll expenses onto students and their families, when it should be cutting its massive bureaucracy and reinvesting its funds to create a more valuable student experience,” Wimberger said in a statement. “No amount of money will ever be enough for satisfy these bureaucrats, and the bright students who attend our universities are only left with a worse education.”

Dianne hesselbein

Tony Evers Drops TRUTH BOMBS on Sneaky Senate Democrat Leader Dianne Hesselbein

At first, I thought Tony Evers had moved onto the acceptance phase of grief. A defeated Evers, looking exhausted and a bit rumpled, stood...
gina paulick

Mt. Pleasant Trustee Gina Paulick Launches Assembly Campaign Focused on Small Business, Strong Schools

Gina Cefalu Paulick, current Village Trustee for Mount Pleasant, officially announced her candidacy for Wisconsin State Assembly District 66, which includes Mount Pleasant, Sturtevant,...
dan Knodl

Dan Knodl: Order Matters, and Victims Deserve Their Voices to Be Heard on Commutations

By: Representative Dan Knodl – 24th Assembly District, Wisconsin State Legislature One of the most important lessons from the last several decades of criminal justice...