Tag Archives: Milwaukee Bucks

Save Our Bucks

The Elements of the Deal

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The news leaked out earlier this afternoon. First from local Milwaukee talk radio personality Mark Belling and then quickly followed up by the reporters at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. The elements of a deal are in place to finance a new Milwaukee arena complex.

We are going to give it our best shot at explaining what the key moving pieces are and what to look for next. Before we begin, we’d like to offer our condolences to the family of Don Walker, the MJS reporter covering the arena issue, who passed away unexpectedly last week of a heart attack at the age of 62. Don and I (your SOB editor) had many email conversations on all things Milwaukee Bucks and the arena project over the past two years. I had known Don from assisting him with some prior stories on Miller Park many years ago. He was a very hard working reporter who was respected by all. As the excitement of the arena takes shape, we do so not only without Don, but also Bradley Center Chairman Marc Marotta, who unexpectedly passed away last month as well. The sad irony is that a key driver of the project (Marotta) and the key reporter covering the project (Walker) are not with us to shepherd things as we enter the home stretch. That said, we know they will be there in spirit when the first Bucks home game is played at the new building. Condolences for the families of both men.

Not a Done Deal Yet

When the specific details are announced in the next week, it is important for Bucks fans to realize that this is simply “the plan” for financing the new arena. This plan has many moving parts and will need a number of different constituencies to sign off on things. If some of these groups fail to go along with the plan, there might not be an arena. Thus it is critical that arena supporters convey to your elected representatives in the coming weeks that you want them to support the project.

Here are the important takeaways based on the deal specifics as outlined by MJS reporters Dan Bice and Patrick Marley this afternoon: Continue reading

A Wisconsin Tale – Part I

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Once upon a time there were three brothers, Christoper, Tom and Scott. The three boys had grown up on the shore of Lake Winnebago, raised by their loving parents Henry and Karen, who owned a beautiful house on the Lake. As youngsters the boys loved the lake and all it had to offer. Fishing, boating and swimming. One of their favorite activities was going out walleye fishing in their uncle Lloyd’s 16-foot Lund Fishing boat. The memories of those days on the lake were imbedded in them all. The three brothers agreed that as they grew up and built families of their own, they would always share this boating legacy with their children.

Lund Fishing Boat

Over time each of the boys married and transitioned into the stresses of normal adult life. Scott moved to Madison where he had built a lucrative career, Christopher moved into downtown Oshkosh, Tom elected to stay on the lake, inheriting the family home after the passing of their parents.

One day the three brothers were gathered at the park in Fond Du Lac for the annual boat show. A beautiful 24-foot pontoon boat with a 200 horsepower Mercury motor powerful was on display. The dealer was going out of business next-month and offering them a once-in-lifetime price of $22,000.

The three brothers knew Uncle Lloyd’s old Lund wasn’t cutting it anymore. They each had teen children who wanted to not only fish but waterski and inner-tube. Given the size of the families, it was impossible for them to all use Uncle Lloyd’s small fishing boat at the same time. Further, the families all wanted to have that boat that could be used for more than just fishing. The model on sale could also be used for water sports and cruising on the big lake. Scott suggested that he had the money to buy the boat, but it would need to be kept at the Tom’s house on the lake.

Pontoon Boat Water SkiChristopher seconded the idea and offered to purchase the lift, trailer and handle winter storage at his garage in Oshkosh. Continue reading

Save Our Bucks

State Budget Hearing – Support The Bucks

State Budget Public Hearing

Before the state budget goes to vote in April, the state holds public hearings to give the public an opportunity to comment, support or oppose parts of the state budget. There will be four such hearings coming up and we will be focusing on the one in the Milwaukee area at Alverno College, next Friday, March 20th at 10am. If you live outside the Milwaukee area and are able to attend a different hearing, we encourage you to attend and show your support for the Arena Funding Plan to support a new arena in Milwaukee.

We will be arriving before 10:00am on Friday, March 20th, and they are expected to deal with the New Arena Funding Plan of the state budget early so you will likely need to only stay an hour or so. We encourage supporters to wear Bucks gear, SaveOurBucks shirts or we will have PlayItForward shirts available to show your support.

For more information or to let us know if you are coming, please check out our Facebook page for the event at this link:

Here is the information on all the public hearings. Spread the word and show your elected officials there is support for the Walker Arena Funding Plan!

MADISON – The co-chairs of the state’s budget-writing Joint Committee on Finance, State Senator Alberta Darling (R-River Hills) and State Representative John Nygren (R-Marinette), are announcing four public hearings on Governor Walker’s 2015-17 budget proposal:

THIS IS THE ONE THAT WE HOPE TO HAVE BUCKS SUPPORTERS AT:

Friday, March 20 (10:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.)
Alverno College
Pitman Theatre
3400 South 43rd Street
Milwaukee, WI 53234

OTHER HEARINGS AROUND THE STATE

Wednesday, March 18 (10:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.)
Brillion High School
Endries Performing Arts Center
W1101 County Road HR
Brillion, WI 54110Monday, March 23 (10:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.)

University of Wisconsin-Barron County
Fine Arts Theatre
1800 College Drive
Rice Lake, WI 54868

Thursday, March 26 (9:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.)
Reedsburg High School
CAL Center Auditorium
1100 South Albert Avenue
Reedsburg, WI 53959

Save Our Bucks

Walker’s Arena Proposal: Thoughts and Questions

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It was an exciting day for Bucks fans as Governor Scott Walker presented his arena financing plan this morning. Does this mean we are home free? Is NBA basketball now secure in Milwaukee for decades to come? Not yet. There are still some battles to come in the coming months. We will need all of you to be ready to have your voices heard with your State and local legislators. We will have details shortly on some events that you can participate in to show your support for the project, so we’ve got some work to do.

All that being said, if you assume Bucks fan angst over the team relocating is a malady that began around 2003 when Senator Kohl almost sold the team to Michael Jordan, we are probably 95% through this. We’ve still got to get through that last 5% that will entail LED outlining their site plans and the politicians lining up to hopefully make this funding plan a reality.

We have a few thoughts and questions from this morning’s press conference. So let’s get this started!

Continue reading

Scott Walker Steps Up

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For those of you just catching up on the news, the concept of the Bucks remaining in Milwaukee for the long haul just had its single most important day since Senator Kohl announced the sale of the team last April.

As reported by Rich Kirchen in the Milwaukee Business Journal, Governor Walker’s proposed 2016-17 State budget will include provisions for state income taxes paid by NBA players to be used to fund the principal and interest payments on tax-exempt bonds to be issued to fund an estimated $200 million dollar public contribution to a new arena. This is what has been referred to in the media as the “jock-tax”.

Most observers had expected Walker to be the last domino to fall in the sequence of events to allow for a new arena. Conventional wisdom called for the Bucks to propose a plan, the public and politicians to debate it, and, at the end of that debate Walker to weigh in with his thoughts. Continue reading

New Arena Sites Narrow – Our Thoughts

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Don Walker has a new piece up noting that the Bucks are narrowing the new arena site choices down to areas in Park East and vicinity. We encourage you to read the piece as background before you read our thoughts on the options being considered. The site location debate is coming to a head and most parties expect some announcement to be within the next 30-60 days. As always, we’ve some opinions on things, so let’s go! Continue reading

Wes Edens Interview with Don Walker – Our Takeaways

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Don Walker with the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel has a new piece up where he interviews Bucks owner Wes Edens on a number of arena related topics. This is a must read for Bucks fans as Edens highlights some important points and foreshadows where he’d like to see things head in the arena debate.

Here are the important takeaways from that piece:

Continue reading

New Arena Site – The Journal Building

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Both Rich Kirchen of the Milwaukee Business Journal and Don Walker of the Journal Sentinel have been doggedly pursuing the new arena story for the past six-months and have done a great job. However they got scooped last night by Jim Owczarski of OnMilwaukee.com, who tweeted out:

Kudos to Jim on breaking this news. Now let’s talk about where we go from here. Continue reading

Jabari & Giannis

The Bucks Are Back in Town

| By: SOB Spokesman Paul Henning | Follow Paul on twitter @brewcitypaul

While Bucks new Head Coach Jason Kidd preached patience for the Bucks young players as they  develop on the floor, new Bucks owners Marc Lasry & Wes Edens spoke about finalizing an arena site by the end of the calendar year.

Marc Lasry Jason Kidd

New owner Marc Lasry and coach Jason Kidd.

The Bucks new era didn’t waste any time getting to work this week. From the Cultural Task Force Meeting on Monday morning at the Milwaukee Public Museum to discuss possible funding mechanisms to the Cousins Center where players took pictures and spoke with members of the media, the City of Milwaukee was abuzz with the task at hand. Build a championship team. Build a new world class arena to revitalize downtown Milwaukee and keep the Milwaukee Bucks tradition alive in the City of Milwaukee and State of Wisconsin. Seems easy enough right?

It will be no easy task, but the Bucks are loaded with resources to compete and succeed in both battles this season. Starting with the talent on the floor the Bucks have added arguably the best college player from one of the best programs in the country in Duke star Jabari Parker. We’ve always argued you need Top 5 pick talent to succeed and we are adding him to budding star Giannis Antetokounmpo who spent his summer competing for Greece and currently stands 6’11, a full two inches taller than when he was drafted.

Bucks fans haven’t seen a duo this talented since the days of Ray Allen & Glenn Robinson, but we have to remember it took 4-5 years before that duo saw any real success. So while we will hopefully see many flashes, this season is a developmental year focused on our young players honing their craft.

Continue reading

BMO Harris Bradley Center Milwaukee, Save Our Bucks

Uihlein Letter Potentially a Game Changer

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Yesterday, David Uihlein, the son of BMO Harris Bradley Center benefactor Jane Bradley Pettit, released a public letter advocating that the community tear down the BMOBC, tear down the Arena (or Mecca or Milwaukee Panther Arena if you prefer) and also tear down the Milwaukee Theater. On said land should go a new arena wrote Uihlein.

Before going further, we encourage you to read the coverage of this letter by Don Walker at MJS here and/or the coverage by Rich Kirchen of the Milwaukee Business Journal here as both provide excellent summaries of the letter itself and background for our commentary below.

When we first saw this story, we tweeted out that it might be game-changer.  No, a mere letter won’t build a new arena, but the content of the letter will bring about some needed dialogue on a number of fronts: Continue reading