Facility managers well know that the real cost of a building is its long-term maintenance. There are all kinds of rules of thumb regarding how much money to budget for maintenance, but most agree that somewhere in the neighborhood of 2 percent of the building's value per year is a good number for maintenance.
So when Major League Baseball’s Milwaukee Brewers said the club needs $448 million for repairs, maintenance, and upgrades, Wisconsin lawmakers balked a bit. The Brewers’ stadium, which opened as Miller Park in 2001, and is now called American Family Field, has been plagued by maintenance issues over the course of its life, including a highly publicized leaky roof.
The Brewers stadium, though, is actually owned by an entity called the Southeast Wisconsin Professional Baseball Park District, and under the term of its lease with the Brewers, it is responsible for repairs and capital upgrades to the facility. The team’s current lease expires in 2030, and MLB commissioner Rob Manfred has sent a warning to the Brewers to make sure the facility is kept up to Major League standards. The Brewers have been in discussion with state lawmakers for more than a year about how to fund the needed repairs and upgrades, according to Newstalk 1130.
Currently, the state’s Democratic governor Tony Evers is negotiating with the Republican-led legislature to determine the best way to allocate funds for maintenance and repairs for the stadium.
Greg Zimmerman is senior contributing editor for FacilitiesNet.com and Building Operating Management magazine.
