Bucks announce sale of team

[craigharmann]

http://espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/10790404/milwaukee-bucks-announce-sale-team

 

Interesting. $550 million. But Kohl is no longer in charge. That has to be a good thing for the future of the Bucks.

[paul253]

That has to be a good thing for the future of the Bucks.

 

I could not care less about the future of the Bucks unless they remain here. I am a little reassured by Kohl stating that he only wanted to sell the franchise to an owner committed to keeping the team in Milwaukee.

 

Hopefully now that we will have an actual sale price perhaps Kohl could enlighten us all as to how much he'd be willing to contribute to a new arena. I'd guess a state of the art up to date arena will cost somewhere around $700-$800 million. If Kohl is willing to donate half of that I will be very, very grateful. Hopefully the city will not miss this opportunity and instead of just plopping a new arena across the street from the old one (again) they make this a whole development project.

[brwrsfan]

I'm hoping with all hope that the new owners come in and immediately fire Hammond. Which I think is likely...he hasn't been even remotely successful, the owners will want their own guy and we're going to have a top 4 pick that could really change the franchise.

 

If part of the deal is the team stay here, the new owners must have some plans for an arena - who knows if that's with Kohl money or not.

[bani1717]

There is no doubt in my mind that Kohl will foot a good chunk of the bill to build a new arena. There is no way all that money is coming from the public, and if he made the new owners commit to keeping the team in Milwaukee, then a logical source for the money would be the funds he gained from selling the team.

[fondybrewfan]

What is Mark A's Net Worth. Bucks got a couple guys from NY worth about $3 Billion that are probably a pretty significant amount of the $550 Million purchase price. I doubt they have a whole lot left over to contribute towards a $400 Million arena.

 

Kohl made a crazy amount of money on the team. Bought it for $18 Million and sold it for $550 Million. Donating a portion of that would at least help with his massive capital gains bill he will have.

[adamb100]

New owners are giving 100 million for the arena and Kohl is also giving 100 million for the arena. How much do arenas cost these days?

[fondybrewfan]

I have heard around $400 Million or so; so they probably still need $200 Million from somewhere. I imagine at least some of that has to come from the government/tax payers.

[paul253]

Orlando built their new arena in 2012 at a cost of $480 million. It is listed as one of the smaller arenas in the league though. I would assume $500 million would be the general price we could expect. I would imagine at least a small chunk of that could come from naming rights though. You could be probably get $30-$40 million in the sale of naming rights.

 

Like I said, the City better not waste this opportunity. Without starting a political debate, I'd be willing to vote yes on a referendum to get not only this done but to expand the convention center, which can't even compete with convention centers in similar sized cities. Then couple that with a major development including restaurants, hotels, and office space and maybe Milwaukee can finally get something right.

[FVBrewerFan]

$500MM for a new arena, easily. While this sale is obviously good news, there is still a $300MM gap to build a new arena and getting one cent of public money will be very difficult. Yes, Mark A, NML, other indiviuals and businesses may contribute, but $300MM is stil a huge amount of money to raise.

 

Most interesting thins I heard in the press conf was one of the new investors saying construcion would begin withina year, and done in two years. A few minutes later Kohl made a comment about how "we have several years" to raise the funds before construcion even begins. Well...which is it? I think the enthusiasm will die down if this all takes 4-5 years to even get started.

 

Unfortunately, the ship has already sailed for having an entertainment district in Milwaukee. It's something a lot of people mention when they come to town. Drive down 94, and the zoo, State Fair Park, Miller Park, Pto, and then downtown are all spread out. Even downtown, the major attractions are mostly spread out. Really too bad.

[brwrsfan]

They could change that with the placement of the new Bucks arena. There is lots of space around the casino (and they own all the land), plus it's relatively close to MP. I don't know if the NBA allows it, but getting Poto involved as a sponsor would seem to be the best case scenario. They have land, unlimited resources basically and room to expand by building restuarants, bars, etc (plus the hotel is there and it's close enough to MP to sort of build up a district). Sell them the naming rights and whatnot, and work out some sort of deal and go from there.

 

I don't see it happening, not sure if that's even allowable. There aren't a lot of great locations for it open downtown, especially with anything around it from a social perspective. $200 million is a nice start, but they have a ways to go. Even assuming they can get $50 million for naming rights, that's still only halfway there. I thought I read that the MP stadium board has the ability to extend the sales tax and give the money to the Bucks without a public vote needed - that this was in the language when it passed last time - anyone confirm this?

 

As I stated before, I'm begging for their first to be the canning of Hammond.

[FVBrewerFan]

Yea, I've thought of the Poto site, makes sense in some ways. The Potos could give them the land for free, naming rights for the arena, and would probably even kick in a couple hundred million to help build it. X amount of the 15,000-20,000 fans for Bucks and MU games would be gambling there, staying at the hotel, dining at their restaurants, etc. But it doesn't solve the entertainment district problem. It's still not walking distance from MP or downtown, so everything is still spread out. Plus, I don't think the NBA would like the visual of a franchise on the grounds of a casino.

 

I blieve you're right about the sales tax, that was not specifially for Miller Park. However, nobody will vote to do that if they don't feel public opinion is behind them.

[fondybrewfan]

I don't think there is anyway you can start construction on something like this within a year or even two years. There are so many legal hoops to go through. Plus it will probably take 2-3 year just to get it built.

 

I mean you have to find the land, figure out project costs, probably some sort of financing, developers agreements, etc, etc. It isn't going to be easy even with $200 Million going in.

 

They probably don't need to find another 300 million because I am sure a portion of that will be financed by a bank or other source

[Invader3K]

The way everyone is talking makes it sound like they're dead set on having a new arena downtown, so I think you can kiss any ideas of it being near Miller Park or whatever good bye.

 

I think the city of Milwaukee (or at least Barrett and Abele) are fully on board with getting this done. Gov. Walker wasn't even there today so I don't think you can expect any help from the state at large.

[FVBrewerFan]

I agree, seems like downtown is a done deal unless something pretty dramatic or unforeseen happens. Rises the question of what they're going to do with all these arenas, but that's a problem for a different day. It would almost be like an arena museum, all lined up in a row.

[patrickgpe]

I was worried when an investment banker from la bought the brewers, but it seemed to work OK. I would have felt better about the bucks sale if bridgeman was part of it. I guess though its not like they would be able to bring the bucks to their home town. that being said, they said all of the right things this afternoon. committing to invest 100+ million proves that they are committed to keeping the team here. Also being new owners I am sure they will want to make a splash this offseason which is exciting.

 

I really hope that drew and Hammond are shown the door. I understand that turnover can be minimal since Hammond signed so many players to multi-year deals in the offseason. Will make for a much more interesting offseason than I was expecting.

[adamb100]

They should build the arena near Potawatomi as someone mentioned. Theres a hotel, restaurant, and Miller Park is a short drive away. With a new arena built down there, they could attract some new business like bars, and restaurants. I know one of the biggest complaints about Miller Park is it is surrounded by parking lots.

 

As for what to do with the arenas, well I imagine either the BC or the US Cellular Arena will have to be torn down. It also raises questions for what Marquette, UWM, the Admirals and the Wave would do since they hold games in those facilities.

[homer]

I don't think there's any location they are willing to consider but downtown and I'm guessing it's going to be on that vacant lot where the old freeway used to be.

[davego]

I just want to thank Senator Kohl for all he has done for Wisconsin, the Badgers and the Bucks.

[owbc]

I assume they will pitch for about $200 million of public money. They need to decide if they are going to upgrade the convention center also. I'm usually opposed to public money, but with so many cities begging for an NBA team, getting a ~50% privately funded arena is a bargain. It should also be enough to turn the public in favor of financing. I would also like to see a portion of the funding going to upgrade sports facilities at county parks and schools.

 

I would be surprised if the arena is anywhere but downtown Milwaukee. Miller Park isn't really a viable option. The Potawatomi site isn't that great either, unless the tribe were to contribute $50 million to the project. That seems unlikely. So it will probably be near the BC. This is a long shot, but they could even put it on the BC site. The Bucks have been drawing so poorly that they could use the US Cellular arena for a few years.

[RockCoCougars]

One thing that makes me nervous about this is something that I haven't heard discussed. I'm assuming that these two guys are going into this as equal partners or thereabouts. In recent sports history, I can't think of many of these type arrangements (White Sox/Timberwolves). I'm assuming that the two had to partner to come up with the necessary bid, but what happens if they start butting heads in a few years, one goes through a divorce/indictment, etc?

[NeedMoreFans]

I said knock down the US Cellular Arena, build the arena there, expand the convention center, and connect the arena with the convention center (like it was when it was MECCA). This could bring some huge conventions to Milwaukee, providing there is hotel space. The issue would be the size of the US Cellular footprint would likely be way too small, unless they also knock down the Milwaukee Theater, which won't happen.

[brwrsfan]

I assume they will pitch for about $200 million of public money. They need to decide if they are going to upgrade the convention center also. I'm usually opposed to public money, but with so many cities begging for an NBA team, getting a ~50% privately funded arena is a bargain. It should also be enough to turn the public in favor of financing. I would also like to see a portion of the funding going to upgrade sports facilities at county parks and schools.

 

I would be surprised if the arena is anywhere but downtown Milwaukee. Miller Park isn't really a viable option. The Potawatomi site isn't that great either, unless the tribe were to contribute $50 million to the project. That seems unlikely. So it will probably be near the BC. This is a long shot, but they could even put it on the BC site. The Bucks have been drawing so poorly that they could use the US Cellular arena for a few years.

 

I doubt the Poto location happens, but I don't think $50 million is far fetched at all. If they get the arena anywhere close to the casino, it's going to bring in a TON of money. Think about all the people that will flock to the casino before/after the game, possibly stay in the hotel, etc. It might even open up the possibility of more bars and other things in that area, which just generates even more traffic for the casino. It likely won't happen, but it's not like they don't have the money or the land.

[1992casey]

I split these messages off from the regular Bucks thread as this discussion would seem to deserve a topic of its own.

[Invader3K]

I'm guessing they'll maybe be able to bring in several other minority investors (people like Mark Attanasio) to help fund the new arena, and maybe the public will only need to contribute $100 million or so...which maybe could be funded through bonds or some sort of tax incentives to the Bucks owners.

 

I assume all involved are smart enough to know that any talk of raising taxes to fund this thing is going to be DOA. The political climate in this state right now is just never going to allow for any real discussion of that to even take place.

[fondybrewfan]

If they have $200 Million in cash and maybe another $150 Million in private financing, that only leaves $150 Million or so in public financing. I would think that level of debt could actually be retired fairly quick through a sales tax, TIF district, or something similar

 

How much of Miller Park was publically financed? A new NBA arena will surely be far less dependent on public money