Roberts: Gilbert refuses to pay for Brewers ballfield. Miracles do happen!

Laurie Roberts
The Republic | azcentral.com

It’s a miracle.

A group of public officials were tempted by the siren song of professional sports. Wooed with the promise of untold riches headed their way if only the town’s taxpayers would kick in a small – minuscule, really -- $70 million toward construction of a new ballpark.

And the town’s leaders, naturally, jumped …

...to tell the Milwaukee Brewers to take a hike.

Wait, what?

That's not how these stories go. Ever.

They stuck to numbers, not prestige

Yet Gilbert Mayor Jenn Daniels said Tuesday that if the Brewers want to train in her town, they’ll have to do it without taxpayers footing the bill for a new Cactus League complex.

"We're not exploring this any further," Daniels told The Republic’s Jessica Boehm.

Again … what?!

ALLHANDS:Actually, a Gilbert stadium for the Brewers is DOA

Apparently, Gilbert officials aren't wowed by the pretty promises of millions of dollars headed their way -- of being “on the map” -- if only they can snag a professional sports team.

Instead, it appears that town leaders stuck to the real numbers – the town’s own projections that show it would be spending $8 million to $10 million a year to build and run a stadium that would bring in $4 million a year in revenue.

And yet the team is still here

They also heeded a town-commissioned study that concluded a publicly funded stadium “may not be justifiable” – even when considering tax revenues that would be generated from a proposed adjacent hotel/office/retail complex.

Daniels said the town told the team in June that taxpayers weren’t going to build it a spring training stadium and here’s the curious thing:

Lack of access to the taxpayers’ wallet apparently hasn’t chased the team away.

It seems team owners may be willing to build their own ballpark. And that adjacent development? The Brewers’ partner, LGE Design Build, may be willing to pay for that, as well.

In return, the town would be asked to kick in $3.5 million a year for 20 years to help cover stadium operations.

Daniels told Boehm the town would want to be assured that it would recoup any cash outlay with a direct revenue increase – as opposed to relying on all the usual promises of indirect riches that will come flooding their way.

Clearly, we aren't in Glendale any more. Or Phoenix. Or Goodyear. Or any other American city/county/state that has bent over backwards to pay for the playgrounds of sports franchises worth billions of dollars.

And a little town shall lead the way ...

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