RNC’s economic impact on Milwaukee deemed a 'failure': report

26 June 2024

Despite hosting the 2024 Republican National Convention (RNC) in just a matter of weeks, the City of Milwaukee isn't expected to see any significant benefit to its local economy.

That's according to Milwaukee-based journalist Dan Shafer, who spoke with multiple business owners and community leaders about how they perceive the RNC's impact on Wisconsin's largest city. In a post to his Substack newsletter, The Recombobulation Area, Shafer found that despite a projection of roughly $200 million in economic activity from the RNC, hopes of a boon for local businesses have so far failed to materialize.

Gary Witt, who is president and CEO of the Pabst Theater Group, said some of his group's biggest venues like Pabst Theater, the Riverside Theater, the Vivarium and the Fitzgerald are all going to be sitting empty during the convention with no bookings expected. He called the projections of economic benefits to local venues and businesses "underwhelming" and a "failure."

"It’s 100% a case of ‘overpromise, underdeliver,’ on all parts, by everybody," Witt told Shafer. "We were told it was going to be one way over and over and over and over again when [the RNC] was confirmed, and it has turned out to be almost anything but the way that we were told it was going to turn out.

“We were sold a storyline of how this is going to go, and basically it didn't go anything at all like the storyline that we were sold," he added.

In addition to the venues Witt referenced, he said he's been in "constant contact with everyone else in town that does what we do, and I’m hearing the same thing from them." He noted that while there were initially hopes of financial benefits from hosting the GOP's quadrennial nominating convention, "at this point in time, I don't see the RNC delivering that kind of success."

Witt made it clear that while VISIT Milwaukee — the city-run tourism and event booking group that worked with the RNC to coordinate the convention — worked hard to deliver for the city's local businesses, the fault lies with the RNC itself for overpromising and underdelivering on actual results.

"While I am saddened about the lack of business in our venues, I am even more concerned about how this incredibly disappointing lack of events will impact our restaurants and small event spaces, who might not be able to afford being closed for a week," Witt wrote in a letter to RNC leadership and VISIT Milwaukee.

The disappointing performance by the RNC in expectations for Milwaukee's economy could stick in voters' minds this November in the must-win battleground state of Wisconsin. The Badger State was decisive in both the 2016 election in flipping to former President Donald Trump by a narrow margin of roughly 27,000 votes, and in the 2020 election in flipping to President Joe Biden by just under 21,000 votes.

Milwaukee could also hold Trump's recent disparaging comment about the city against him in November. During a meeting earlier this month in Washington, D.C. with Senate Republicans, Trump called the RNC's host city "horrible," though he later attempted to backtrack and say his comment was about the city's crime rate, rather than the city itself.

Click here to read Shafer's report in its entirety.

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