At a meeting with Wisconsin legislators Monday, franchise president Peter Feigin sounded the alarms regarding the possibility of the NBA buying back the Milwaukee Bucks and relocating them elsewhere if the city is unable to secure public funding for a new arena soon. Here’s more from Mark Kass of the Milwaukee Business Journal:
“At an informational hearing held by the state Legislature’s Joint Finance Committee, Feigin said the Bucks owners’ purchase agreement for the team includes a provision that construction of a new arena start in 2015. If that does not occur, he said the NBA will buy back the team for a $25 million profit and move them to ‘Las Vegas or Seattle.’
“The window is closing,” Feigin said. “We can’t wait months, even weeks to start the public process.”
According to Kass, there are several roadblocks to this potential deal. First, both current and former Bucks owners have ponied up $250 million of their own money for the project, but they are looking for a $250 million public match. They’ve presented a plan to the legislature that would require about $55 million from the state, nearly $50 million from the city of Milwaukee itself, and more than $90 million from The Wisconsin Center District, a public trust that operates entertainment venues in Milwaukee.
However, not everyone at the State House is on board with the plan, in particular State Sen. Lena Taylor, who has qualms about the hefty interest that would accrue before the loans could be paid back:
“Who has a loan for 13 years and you don’t pay anything, but you let the interest run? Who does that? You wouldn’t let your kids do it,” Taylor said. “And you sure as heck wouldn’t do that to your constituents.”
Milwaukee is in an eerily similar position to that of Seattle prior to them losing the Supersonics to Oklahoma City investors. The issue at the time related directly to KeyArena and local legislators’ ultimate inability to secure public funding for more than $200 million in upgrades after the arena had fallen into disrepair. It would be a strange and ironic twist if Seattle were able to bring an NBA team back to town under similar circumstances.
But with a new coach in Jason Kidd (who appears to be lightning in a bottle), and a promising young core that includes Jabari Parker, Giannis Antetokounmpo, Khris Middleton, free agent Greg Monroe, and more, the Bucks would be wise to do everything in their power to keep the team around for the long term, even if that requires caving a bit on the amount of public funding they’re seeking for a new arena.
However, if lawmakers aren’t able to get a deal done, and soon, the league won’t hesitate to step in and start the process of relocating the team. The city of Seattle has been pining for a team ever since the Sonics skipped town, and Las Vegas, which is currently hosting NBA Summer League and has been doing so for the past several years, is another ripe location for an NBA franchise.