HOWARD, WI (WTAQ) – A Green Bay area lawmaker is proposing the elimination of the Lambeau Field Stadium District.
State Representative David Steffen of Howard says the district hasn’t taken on mission-related functions since 2015.
“As Milton Friedman once said: ‘Nothing is so permanent as a temporary government program,'” Steffen said. “The Stadium District exists as a statutory artifact. It no longer has purpose as articulated in state law, and therefore has no real reason to continue…As an organization, that entity has fulfilled and satisfied its statutory responsibility. It’s my opinion that this provides an opportunity for the community to discuss and decide whether it should be continued.”
The goal of dissolving the district would be to simplify the financial relationship between the Green Bay Packers and the owner of Lambeau Field, which is the City of Green Bay.
“By transferring all obligations and responsibilities including those that are required under the lease to the city of Green Bay, you provide a more appropriate and streamlined relationship between those two primary parties,” Steffen said.
State Representative David Steffen of Howard discusses a proposal to eliminate the Lambeau Field Stadium District. (PHOTO/WTAQ News)
If the city were to assume all responsibilities in the lease, including the operations and maintenance expenses of the stadium, the first $60-$100 million would be liability – and it would take about eight years to address. However, the city would receive overage and control of the ticket tax. The estimated $7.8 million annual tax income would help offset expenses related to maintaining the stadium.
The proposal would also send about $45 million of existing funds from the district to Brown County homeowners, which means every homeowner could expect about a $600 check in 2022.
This isn’t a brand new idea for Steffen, either. It’s been a process with several discussions with different groups.
“I’ve been thinking and working on this in some fashion or form for six years. In fact, the first time I broached it with the Green Bay Packers was six years ago,” Steffen said. “It’s time for a maturity, an evolution, to occur between Lambeau Field and it’s owner. And this is an appropriate step.”
Steffen was working for the Packers when the district was first introduced. He says nobody with the organization anticipated it would exist as long as it has.
“As a business, which of course the Packers are, there is no financial negative impact on that organization. So while they are certainly involved with this, the larger decisions are going to be that of the municipalities,” Steffen said.
The cost of administration for the district is somewhere between $120,000-$150,000 each year, which Steffen calls ‘completely unnecessary,’ and says could be absorbed at no cost.
But right now, the proposal is just that – a proposal.
“This is a draft. I not only ask, but need the input of the people of Brown County as to whether or not they believe this is the right direction,” Steffen said. “I haven’t even presented to my colleagues in Madison. So if people – the public, elected officials, local, state have input, I want it. Let’s have that discussion.”
Steffen says Lambeau Field has provided a ‘great bounty’ to the entire county over the years. But also admits the $720 million facility is a large and expensive rental property owned by a community of just 110,000 people. The next smallest municipality-owned stadium in the NFL is located in Jacksonville. Jacksonville has a budget approximately nine-times higher than Green Bay, and a population flirting with the 1 million mark.
To have your voice heard head to www.StadiumDistrictFuture.com and complete the 5-minute online survey. The public comment will end November 25th.
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