By DAVID A. LIEB
Associated Press

Standing on a portable stage erected at home plate of the ballpark recently, Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers recently praised the professional baseball team as an “essential part” of the state’s “culture and identity” and “economic success.”

With fanfare, Evers then signed off on $500 million in public aid for the stadium’s renovation, adding to a remarkable run of such blockbuster deals. This year alone, about a dozen Major League Baseball and National Football League franchises took steps toward new or improved stadiums.

A new wave of sports facility construction is underway. One driven, in part, by a race to keep up with rivals and one that could collectively cost taxpayers billions of dollars despite skepticism from economists that stadiums boost local economies.

Though the Brewers primarily cited a need for repairs, many of the other new projects are much more than that. In some cases, sports teams are even seeking a new jolt of public funding for state-of-the-art stadiums while public entities are still paying off debt from the last round of renovations a couple of decades ago.

“These facilities are not physically obsolete. It’s not as if the concrete is falling down and people are in grave danger if they attend a game,” said Rob Baade, a retired economics professor at Lake Forest College in Illinois.

“Teams are clamoring for new stadiums because it’s in their economic interest to do so,” Baade said, adding, “The new stadium model is one that spills over the stadium walls.”

THE POWER OF PEER PRESSURE

New or improved stadiums provide team owners with fresh revenue opportunities from luxury suites, dining, shopping and other developments, especially for those who control the nearby area.

For many, Los Angeles Rams owner Stan Kroenke is the model: His $5 billion football stadium opened in 2020 as the centerpiece of a sprawling development that will feature apartments, offices, retail stores, public parks and a theater.

The difference, however, is that Kroenke is privately financing the project, after uprooting the Rams from a publicly funded stadium in St. Louis that was still being paid off.

The Kansas City Royals in August unveiled two options for a new $1 billion baseball stadium as part of an overall $2 billion development. The Tampa Bay Rays followed suit in September, unveiling plans for a $1.3 billion baseball stadium as the centerpiece of a $6.5 billion development in St. Petersburg, Florida, that also features housing, retail stores, restaurants and bars and a Black history museum.

They joined the Jacksonville Jaguars, the Buffalo Bills and the Tennessee Titans, all of whom announced plans for or began construction on new billion-dollar football stadiums with luxury amenities.

Those projects all also came with public funding, including the $760 million in local bonds the Nashville City Council approved to go with $500 million in state bonds to pay for the Titans’ new $2.1 billion stadium. As part of the deal, the Titans agreed to pay off the remaining $30 million of public debt owed for their current stadium, which opened in 1999.

As the Baltimore Ravens announced a publicly funded $430 million renovation this month, the football team’s senior vice president for stadium operations said the facility is “already considered by many to be top-of-line.” But “we must remain cutting-edge and captivating,” Rich Tamayo said.

The trend extends beyond baseball and football.

On Dec. 12, Oklahoma City voters approved a 1-cent sales tax for a new Thunder basketball team arena costing at least $900 million. The next day, Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin announced a proposed $2 billion development to lure basketball’s Washington Wizards and hockey’s Washington Capitals to a new arena surrounded by a performing arts center, hotels, convention center, housing and retail stores.

The emerging cycle of stadium construction has a “level of extravagance that has ratcheted up tremendously” and is projected to peak around 2030, said J.C. Bradbury, an economics professor at Kennesaw State University in Georgia who has been tracking the projects.

FEARS OF TEAMS LEAVING

Underlying the pitch for new stadiums is an assumption that teams may head elsewhere if they don’t get what they want, a rare yet realistic possibility highlighted by MLB’s approval last month for the Oakland Athletics to relocate from California to Las Vegas.

The team’s new $1.5 billion baseball stadium in Nevada is being aided by $380 million in public funding. It will be built not far from the $2 billion football home of the Las Vegas Raiders, which opened in 2020 with $750 million of public funding from hotel room taxes.

The Raiders and A’s previously shared Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum, which had been renovated at taxpayer expense in the 1990s to lure the Raiders back from Los Angeles. The remaining $13.5 million in public debt from that renovation is to be paid off by February 2025, by which time both teams could be gone.

Longtime A’s fan Ken Rettberg is frustrated by both the A’s impending departure and the lavish public aid benefitting wealthy team owners.

“It’s crazy … how they can get away with giving away taxpayer money. It’s completely absurd,” said Rettberg, a software engineer who lives near Oakland.

Wisconsin officials feared the Brewers also could leave, taking their tax dollars with them.

While approving public aid for the Brewers stadium on Dec. 5, Evers asserted that “losing this team would have had a ripple effect felt by families and communities across this state.” He said the team generates billions of dollars of annual economic impact and supports thousands of jobs.

Brewers principal owner Mark Attanasio said other cities inquired, but “we never considered going anywhere else.” Records show the Brewers spent $575,000 lobbying lawmakers from January through June.

American Family Field, home of the Brewers, opened in 2001 during the peak of the last round of nationwide stadium construction, as cities replaced multipurpose facilities with glitzier sport-specific structures. Public funding covered nearly three-quarters of the $392 million cost.

Wisconsin’s latest stadium deal includes nearly $674 million for renovations, including a total of about $500 million from the state, county and city.

A PUBLIC BACKLASH

Ultimately, not everyone supports efforts to renovate or replace stadiums, or the trend of asking taxpayers to bear the cost.

The Titans’ new stadium carries the nation’s largest public subsidy for a professional sports facility. But voters delivered a rebuke in September, electing a progressive councilman who voted against the subsidy to serve as mayor.

The Chicago Bears in February bought a former suburban horse racing track as a potential site for a new football stadium and surrounding development but have yet to go forward with the potentially controversial move from downtown. The Illinois Sports Facilities Authority still owes $589 million through 2032 on public bonds issued for a renovation of the Bears’ current stadium two decades ago.

Many economists contend public funding for stadiums isn’t worth it, because sports tend to divert discretionary spending away from other forms of entertainment rather than generate new income.

“When you ask economists should we fund sports stadiums, they can’t say ‘no’ fast enough,” Bradbury said. “Yet when you ask a politician, they can’t say ‘yes’ fast enough.”

Public opinion appears mixed.

A survey conducted last year for the Global Sport Institute at Arizona State University found professional sports teams were viewed as a necessary cultural component of communities by 60 percent of respondents. Yet fewer than half believed state and local governments should provide public funds for sports stadiums.

The proposal to build a new Royals stadium closer to downtown Kansas City spurred thousands of fans to join a Facebook site rallying to keep the current stadium. The hefty public financing forms part of their objection.

“We’ve got a perfectly good stadium sitting there that was recently renovated and we’re still paying on that,” said Royals fan Jim Meyer, an administrator of the website. He added, “There is no real reason to replace it.”

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The saga to bring professional baseball to Milwaukie continues.

The city’s negotiations with the Northwest League broke off last week when league officials were unable to provide a team by the city’s self-imposed deadline of July 31.

Now the city is looking to another league, the West Coast League, a summer league for college players, to fill its proposed $12 million stadium, which was expected to be built in 2015.

The city’s council will vote Aug. 7 whether to proceed with raising funds for the stadium and whether to pursue a WCL team. It is undetermined whether plans for the stadium, which was expected to meet a variety of community needs outside of baseball, would reduce in size if a WCL team was obtained.

Sadly for baseball fans, this means the idea of a cross-town rivalry with Hillsboro, a city that recently received a NL team, is no longer possible.

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Signal the skips and bring on the bonspiels: A local curling club is preparing to build the first rink in Oregon to accommodate its sport exclusively.

Earlier this month, the signed a seven- to 15-year lease agreement with for a Beaverton warehouse space with approximately 10,000 square feet. The club will soon begin renovating the space to include three curling courts, or “sheets,” and a bar/viewing room for socializing.

Since the nonprofit began its fundraising campaign – D.I.Y., or Dedicated Ice in a Year – last year, it has raised between $350,000 and $400,000 for the new facility. Joe Petsche, promotions director for the club, said its membership – approximately 200 strong – was fed up with substandard ice.

Presently, Evergreen shares Lloyd Center Ice Rink with ice skaters and hockey players. That arrangement is not conducive to the precise ice conditions that curling requires.

“We have to cut the ice every day, every time we curl – and we have limited hours,” Petsche said. “And so there’s just a lot of issues with us expanding over there, and having our own dedicated facility is just a no-brainer. It’s going to blow up curling in Portland.”

Curling requires a pebbled surface – the opposite of a golf ball – that is created by sprinkling drops of water over the ice. The raised ice pebbles let curling stones glide. Zambonis don’t help matters because as they scrape the surface they create tiny ridges in the ice as they overlap their last lap, Petsche said. A ridge can ruin a curling game.

“When a curling stone goes down the ice, your shot is really within inches; you’re shooting for something within inches,” Petsche said. “If it hits the ridge your shot can be completely off.”

Indeed, curling is an intricate game of strategy with a long history; it’s often referred to as “chess on ice.” According to the World Curling Federation, the modern-day version likely evolved from a particularly bitter Northern European winter when people would toss stones over frozen lochs and ponds to pass the time. But paintings from the 16th century also portray the sport in action.

Scots made the game official in the 1800s and exported it around the world. The sport grew in popularity throughout the 20th century and became an official Winter Olympics sport in 1998.

Jon Rubey at helped Evergreen find the right building, at 10950 S.W. Fifth St. It will require some unique renovations, and construction will be divided into two phases; the first will concentrate on the rink and the second will focus on the bar. When finished, it will be the West Coast’s second dedicated curling facility; the other is in Seattle.

The Beaverton facility will include a low-e ceiling, which is an aluminum ceiling that acts as a radiant barrier between the ice and the roof. According to the Aluminum Association, radiant heat transfer between ice and a roof is the single greatest factor in heat gain for an ice rink. A private consultant from New York, Jim Hibbard, will help the club build the system.

The ice sheets themselves will require an elaborate cooling system that begins with rubber ice mats. Beneath the ice mats, a layer of rigid R-7 foam insulation will be placed to keep the concrete floor from freezing. Pipes will run from a central refrigerating system, pumping propylene glycol to the mats to keep the ice layer frozen.

Ice is created via a painstaking process that requires application of eighth-of-an-inch water layers, one at a time; each layer is allowed to freeze and then another is added. Petsche said it takes about two days to complete the process. That task needs to be repeated once a year to keep the ice pristine.

But a big part of curling happens off the ice.

“Post curling is kind of a cool thing because it’s all about socializing, and after you’re done playing a game it’s kind of good camaraderie to have a beverage – either a beer or a cola – and talk with the other team, whether it be about curling or not … just to hang out,” Petsche said.

He is hoping to carry three kegs of local beer in the building; he is in the process of obtaining the required license. “Warm room” patrons will be able to watch the curling unfold through a large, glass viewing wall.

Mass mailings, bake sales and grant proposals have brought the group to this point. In addition to private donations, Evergreen has received a $20,000 grant from Nike and a $90,000 loan from the World Curling Foundation.

Evergreen hopes to have the facility open for play by mid-October, as it approaches its 10-year anniversary. And with a dedicated facility at its disposal daily, the organization may be in position to grow.

The club already hosts a growing wheelchair league, and also offers curling instruction to groups for corporate team-building events, birthday parties and the like. Petsche said a local Subway restaurant franchisee has already signed up to sponsor an employee team.

“A lot of people fade into the woodwork when it’s not really good ice,” he said. “Now that we have our own place, we’re expecting to have a lot more members.”

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As work wraps up on the $93 million Sandy High School replacement, the Oregon Trail School District is getting ready to start $6 million worth of sports facility construction.

The school board on April 9 approved the funding of several sports facility projects expected to begin construction by June.

had the lowest bid for improvements to the existing sports facility, which include an upgraded track, an improved football field, a two-story concession stand, an announcer booth, and new softball and baseball diamonds.

Work on the facility will coincide with the commission of the new high school building, which is being built by and is expected to open in the fall.

The district is using the last of the money from a $120 million construction bond for the sports facility improvements, according to bond project manager Debbie Pearson.

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When Reynolds High School was built in Troutdale in 1976, plans existed for sophisticated athletic facilities.

But “plans never came to fruition,” Principal Jeff Gilbert said. “I don’t know why.”

“We say we have the worst outdoor athletic facilities of any 6A – or even 5A – school in the state,” Assistant Principal and Athletic Director John Olsen said.

Reynolds has approximately 2,850 students, and most schools with comparable enrollments have a synthetic-turf football field with lights and stands. Reynolds’ “practice-quality” fields, however, force sub-varsity football games and even varsity soccer matches to be scheduled around sunset, so some start as early as 3 p.m, Olsen said. Varsity football games are played on a rented field at Mount Hood Community College.

But the Reynolds School Board last month authorized fundraising – completely from private sources – for a new football stadium at the school. Gilbert believes ground could be broken on a new stadium within two years.

“The goal is that students who are freshmen now will be playing on the facility by their senior year,” he said.

To kick off the process, the school district enlisted to assemble a master plan for athletic facilities.

“They are blessed with a lot of space to work with,” said Group Mackenzie Director of Civil Engineering Matt Butts.

The master plan calls for not only a football field with stands and a track, but also two softball fields, two baseball fields, two soccer fields – and space for youth fields and other options.

The master plan is designed in phases, with phase one focusing on the football stadium; its design and construction costs are projected to be $4.5 million to $5.5 million. A more detailed design would be commissioned later, according to Gilbert.

“We have the feasibility study done, so we know that permitting is possible, the water drainage can happen, and that the physical structure can exist in that location,” he said.

The district doesn’t plan to start building additional fields at the high school – such as those laid out in the master plan – in the near future; however, it was also important to map out where they might be constructed later on, Gilbert said.

“We wanted to make sure that, five to 10 years down the road, we hadn’t put in a football stadium where we wanted baseball,” he said.

If the second phase is built out in the future, it will mean better drainage on Reynolds’ extensive grounds for multiple sports. The baseball facilities and others in the master plan are estimated to cost $2.5 million to $3 million.

The team behind the project has decided to pay for it without district money and without a request for a voter-approved bond.

“That’s pretty standard these days,” Butts said. “I think, from a funding standpoint, it’s difficult for districts to commit much funding to this (kind of project.)”

Group Mackenzie recently completed two similar projects funded by parent organizations or athletic boosters, Butts said.

“People pay a lot in taxes already,” Gilbert said.

He said he has spoken with people who appreciate that only the people interested in building the stadium are being asked to pay for it. That’s one reason, he said, why the community is energized already.

“Since we made the announcement, we’ve had people approach us who want to volunteer their time: construction workers, electricians and businesses,” Gilbert said. “They’re not only saying they want to help financially, but they’re giving a lot of in-kind donations of labor and materials.”

Interest is coming from a wide area because Reynolds High School draws students from several surrounding cities, including Portland, Gresham, Fairview and Wood Village.

“The stadium is bringing people from all those municipalities together,” Gilbert said. “When people come to visit, they see the overwhelming amount of spirit and excitement that’s happening here.”

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The support keeps piling to bring minor league baseball – and a $22.7 million publicly financed stadium – to Vancouver, Wash.

After the Columbia River Economic Development Council released an economic impact report on the project last week – accompanied by a unanimous vote of support – the board of directors at Vancouver’s Downtown Association has followed suit.

“While the financing details are still being worked out, the board of directors of (VDA) supports the concept of the stadium and welcoming Short Season LLC to Vancouver,” wrote VDA Director Lee Rafferty in a letter of support.

Short Season owns the minor league baseball team the Yakima Bears, and it has been working over the past few months to move the team to Vancouver. The LLC would move the team if the city built a baseball stadium near Clark College that could be used by both the college and the public when the baseball team wasn’t playing.

While people have supported bringing baseball to town, some are concerned about the 5 percent entertainment tax that Clark County officials have proposed to help pay for the stadium. In addition to concerns from some members of the Clark County Board of Commissioners, there has been little support from the Vancouver City Council.

But according to the report released by the CREDC last week, the economic benefit the stadium would have on the area would far surpass the public involvement. According to the report, the stadium would generate $206 million over a 20 year period and would create 280 construction jobs, 12 full-time positions and about 130 game day part-time jobs.

“The jobs created first by the construction and then by the operation and booking of the facility have been quantified in the economic impact study,” Rafferty wrote. “The numbers are very impressive.”

While the VDA is in support of baseball and the stadium, Rafferty urged decision makers to carefully consider the impact of the project on nonprofit organizations and to exhaust all other financing tools before relying on the entertainment tax.

Both county and city officials will resume talks regarding the stadium later this month.

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While key decision makers seem to be divided in Vancouver, Wash. – and Clark County – over whether to build a stadium to support minor league baseball, one local economic development group doesn’t see a downside.

The Columbia River Economic Development Council – a nonprofit focused on economic development in Clark County – has released an economic impact report on the $22.7 million stadium to attract the to the area. And while the stadium would need a public investment to move forward – in the form of an admissions tax – the group says the economic benefit would be worth it.

Through the group’s analysis, the new facility, which would be located at Clark College and open to the public, is expected to generate $206.5 million over the expected 20 years of public and private investment. About $126.5 million of that would come from the construction and operation as a baseball facility, while the other $80 million would come from the stadium’s other uses, like hosting regional sporting events.

The group also expects the project to create 280 construction jobs, 12 full-time positions and about 130 game day part-time jobs.

While most people seem to be supportive of the baseball team coming to town, some city and county councilors are concerned with the 5 percent admissions tax on things like movie and concert tickets. The tax is estimated to raise about $900,000 a year.

“We are encouraged that the project not only would create a significant boost to the economy through construction, but would continue to generate economic activity many times greater than the proposed public investment,” said Eric Fuller, owner of a Vancouver-based commercial real estate firm and chair of the CREDC.

The stadium would be publicly owned but privately maintained by the owners of the baseball team. The Clark County Board of Commissioners will take up the discussion about the tax again at an Aug. 24 work session. For the stadium to be ready for the 2012 season, construction would need to begin by November of this year.

To find out more about the CREDC report, .

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