Like most people growing up in Wisconsin, I am an avid Green Bay Packers and Milwaukee Brewers fan. Though unlike many of my friends, I faithfully support the Milwaukee Bucks basketball team as well. After years of team mediocrity, recycled veterans and an absence of any excitement, they quickly have become one of the most promising teams in the league. The Bucks have improved their viewership by more than 400 percent compared to last year. There is just one threat to their immense potential — the new arena question.
The Bucks’ owner, former Wisconsin senator and noted philanthropist Herb Kohl, sold ownership of the team to two hedge fund billionaires, Marc Lasry and Wesley Edens, this past April for $550 million. With cities like Seattle vying for an NBA franchise, Kohl stipulated that the team must stay in Milwaukee, a favor he did for the city back in 1985 as well. Additionally, the NBA asserted their right to buy back the team for $575 million if a new arena is not built to house the Bucks by 2017 — and with good reason. The Bucks’ current arena, the BMO Harris Bradley Center, frankly makes the Humanities Building on campus look like the Taj Mahal. It is also the second oldest arena used by an NBA franchise.
Between Lasry, Edens, Kohl and other minority owners, funding for the $420 million project is approximately three-fourths complete. Accounting for naming rights and other contributions, a significant majority of a new arena is paid for, though the owners have indicated they want some public support.
Public funding of this (relatively) private enterprise is certainly debatable. Public tax dollars would be spent on an arena that would, to a great extent, have financial benefits for the owners and not the public. I won’t get into any economical arguments, because the correlation between new sports stadiums and economic prosperity within a region are inconclusive at best. It is important to remember there are other benefits to this regional asset: the arena can be used for concerts, as an event hall or for use by other local sports franchises. It is up to the people and government officials to decide whether that long-term investment in a public good is worth the trouble, while remembering that opportunities like these are few and far between. In 10 years, if Milwaukee decides they need some sort of grand indoor stadium, it will be much more expensive to build without these substantial private investments.
What bothered me to no end was the Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, R-Rochester, and his comments on the arena’s prospects. Upset that Lasry appeared on stage when President Barack Obama campaigned with Democratic gubernatorial candidate Mary Burke, he expressed reservations about being able to accomplish any legislation toward the new building.
Apparently, it would be a tough sell for Vos and the Republican-led Assembly and State Senate to help fund an arena owned by a noted Democratic Party donor. Not only does this sort of bias seem childish, it also appears to be downright illegal. It is ridiculous to make this arena a political issue, even Gov. Scott Walker and Burke agreed they hoped it could be built, both intending on evaluating the positive impact it can have in Milwaukee. That is exactly the point. This is a debatable topic because of the implications of public spending being put into a private arena, not because of the political beliefs of those involved. I wish Vos, the Speaker of the Assembly after all, could move past his juvenile apprehensions.
The new owners have been met with open arms and their work has already shown visible improvements. They have stayed flexible, saying they were open to a “jock tax” — which is income tax specifically on the team’s players as an additional source of revenue. Coming off the franchise’s worst season ever, the Bucks have shown they have playoff potential this year, behind two rising 19-year-old prospects, Giannis Antetokounmpo (a.k.a. The Greek Freak) and Jabari Parker. A new arena would bring a valuable public asset to Milwaukee. Public funding should be controversial and up for debate, but not for the reasons Vos so foolishly declared.
Omer Arain ([email protected]) is a sophomore majoring in political analysis and research and economics.
