PHOTO: Courtesy of WLUK
GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) — Green Bay Mayor Eric Genrich is responding to the blame the Packers placed on him earlier this week in the stalled Lambeau Field lease negotiations.
City council members have been united on the issue, saying the deal the Packers want to make does not benefit city taxpayers.
In letters the Packers publicly released on Wednesday, a team attorney refers to Genrich as an obstructionist, politically motivated, and causing repeated delays and refusal to engage in Lambeau Field lease negotiations.
“They’re asking Green Bay taxpayers to take $30 million less on the new term of the lease as they’ve suggested,” said Genrich. “That’s a total nonstarter for us.”
Members of the city council have come to Genrich’s defense, even perhaps the one who has butted heads with the mayor the most.
Alderperson Chris Wery wrote on social media, “The Packers are trying to make Mayor Genrich look like a villain. The council is unified as a team on this one looking out for the residents of Green Bay.”
“It’s really nice that the common council is united with the administration in this position,” said Genrich. “It’s never been about me or individual alders or members of city staff. We’ve been advocating for positions to benefit the City of Green Bay and our residents and our taxpayers and we’ll continue to do that.”
The Packers are frustrated the city hasn’t been willing to negotiate after sending three offers for a lease extension since 2020.
The current lease between the Packers, City of Green Bay, and the stadium district runs until 2032. The team has the option to extend it 10 additional years.
The Packers have said their offer was to extend the lease 30 years. The team would spend $1.5 billion of its own money to cover maintenance and upgrades. In exchange, rent payments to the city would stay flat. That’s where the city says the $30 million loss comes from compared to the current deal.
However, the Packers maintain the city’s numbers are inaccurate, especially if the team doesn’t pick up the option to extend after 2032.
“If you look around pro sports, there are deals that have hundreds of millions of dollars in public money going towards those stadiums,” said Aaron Popkey, the Packers Director of Public Affairs. “The plan the Packers have presented through three proposals with no counter proposal call for no public money to be involved in that. It’s the best deal any city could hope for.”
The Denver law firm the city hired, which specializes in stadium deals, made the call to halt negotiations with the Packers, according to City Council Vice President Bill Galvin, who also used to be on the stadium district board.
“The Packers have been a great organization for this city and everyone calls them the people’s team, but I think that definition has gone by the wayside,” said Galvin. “I think the Packers are there for the Packers.”
With the current Packers offer on the table, Galvin says the city would be best suited to just let the current lease run out. He doesn’t think the team would ever leave because of all the property it owns around the stadium, which he believes would plummet in value if that ever happened.
“How could they walk away and take the loss that would generate?” said Galvin.
The Packers have said they won’t be putting more money into the stadium until there is a new lease. An $80 million project to upgrade concourses was put on hold this offseason.
“Why we are interested in getting this done now is because the longer we wait, the more it will cost and increases the likelihood that public tax money would be needed in the future,” said Popkey.
“The current lease is much better for Green Bay taxpayers than what they’ve offered,” said Genrich. “Once they’re ready to revise and resubmit an offer that is in keeping with discussions that took place over several months, we’re going to be happy to get together and talk with them.”
The Packers have asked the stadium district board, the other party to the lease, to become involved in negotiations.
Genrich says the city would rather continue negotiations directly with the team and involve the district once a deal is reached.
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