Brewers building the "Selig Experience"

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Famous Mortimer
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Re: Brewers building the "Selig Experience"

Post by Famous Mortimer »

WHAT

ARE YOU TRYING TO MAKE ME HATE THIS GAME

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go birds
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Re: Brewers building the "Selig Experience"

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i cant even

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Hoot45
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Re: Brewers building the "Selig Experience"

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how is any of this real

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Hoot45
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Re: Brewers building the "Selig Experience"

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Doesn't Bud still own the parking lot revenue at Miller Park even though he sold the team? I remember that was why he put the stadium where he did (not downtown where the city wanted it). He put the park outside of downtown and then carved out the parking lot revenue for himself - meaning he didn't share the revenue with the club or city. Then when he sold the team to Attanasio Bud allegedly kept ownership of the surrounding lots.

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Jocephus
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Re: Brewers building the "Selig Experience"

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Rany Jazayerli @jazayerli
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For the $6M annual pension owners are giving Bud Selig, they could have given every minor leaguer in baseball a raise of about $300 a month.

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pioneer98
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Re: Brewers building the "Selig Experience"

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No, I don't believe Selig owns the parking lots. The whole reason he pushed to have the stadium at its current site was so he could control every piece of revenue he could muster. There are no restaurants nearby, so people have to eat inside the stadium, or tailgate. The ciry and state wanted to put the stadium in an old industrial area they were trying to revitalize near downtown. This page has the most in depth description of what a boondoggle it was:

http://baseball.derekmiller.us/miller.html

If you read that whole thing, the gist of it is that Selig basically had no money. He committed to $90 million, but turns out, he didn't even have $50 million. He had zero, and the state and city basically picked up the bill of the entire thing.

If you go back even earlier, Selig's whole "fortune" was from inheriting a car dealership his dad owned. We are not talking about a titan of industry or finance here. Selig contributed $300,000 the the purchase of the Pilots. I think that investment worked out pretty good for him!
After years of handshaking and deal making, Selig was ready to bring his proposal to the people in 1995. Selig and Wisconsin Governor Tommy G. Thompson agreed on a deal to build a $250 million ballpark at Selig's proposed site near County Stadium. They signed a "memorandum of understanding" that stated the Brewers would contribute $90 million while the remaining $160 million would come from a 0.1% sales tax levied in the five counties surrounding the stadium. Of course, a memorandum means very little in government, and the tax would have to get through the state legislature first. In what many call the most lobbied issue in the history of Wisconsin, the bill was brought to the Wisconsin Senate on October 6, 1995 after it had already passed the state assembly. Known as Wisconsin Act 56 it lost 16-15, but the proponents of the bill pushed for a reconsideration. After the Senate reconvened the bill lost by the same margin. Selig, who had been pacing the halls outside the Senate floor, was enraged, and he sent for Milwaukee mayor John O. Norquist at 4 am. Norquist assumed that Selig wanted to broker a deal for a downtown ballpark, but Selig instead began a tirade in which he yelled, "You're the one who's going to be held responsible for this! You killed baseball in Milwaukee!" Norquist responded by contending that Selig was ripping off the Wisconsin taxpayers, and Selig stormed out of the room. At 4:30 am the Senate majority leader was ready to close the session, but he was stopped by the assistant majority leader, Margaret Farrow, who revealed that someone planned to change their vote. Republican George Petak, from Racine, had opposed the bill because he did not believe his county should be taxed for the stadium because Racine was not integral to the economy of Milwaukee. He suddenly changed his mind, however, and has since contended that he was promised nothing in return. Nine months later Petak became the first Wisconsin politician to be recalled when the citizens of Racine voted to oust him, mainly because of the stadium deal.

Cameramen At Miller ParkThe Brewers now had to step up and contribute their money to the project, but the reality was that the Brewers couldn't even afford the $90 million they had promised. Governor Thompson had brokered a deal with Selig to have the Wisconsin Housing and Economic Development Authority lend the Brewers $50 million, but this deal was aborted when Thompson realized the Brewers had no collateral to offer the state for this money.
The bill lost by 1 vote. So Selig paid a guy to change his vote, and then that guy was later recalled by irate voters. Democracy at work.
The $50 million eventually came out of the taxpayers' pockets. The rest of the money came from the Brewers selling the name of the stadium to the Miller Brewing Company. This, in essence, meant that the Brewers only true contribution to the stadium came from the naming rights of the stadium itself.

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Famous Mortimer
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Re: Brewers building the "Selig Experience"

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And now St Louis is getting in on the action for the new Commissioner Emeritus - http://m.cardinals.mlb.com/news/article ... ers-dinner

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sighyoung
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Re: Brewers building the "Selig Experience"

Post by sighyoung »

Image

O.k., so now the "Selig Experience" will contain a cash wind machine, like those at children's play zones in strip malls, where visitors try to grab all the Monopoly money they can before they leave the exhibit.

Image

Next, we should have a Selig clock next to a minor-leaguer clock, ticking off comparative money made each second by a retired Selig and the average minor-league player.

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sighyoung
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Re: Brewers building the "Selig Experience"

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Image

History is being rewritten every day. The Selig Experience should provide conclusive evidence that Bud Selig was sent as an emissary of Pope Francis to bring the United States and Cuba back to the negotiating table. In order to be completely transparent, the exhibit will note that Selig's yammering is listed as one of the "enhanced interrogation techniques" condemned in the recent Senate report on torture.

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