[rquoter]For years, officials from the Milwaukee Bucks, team owner Herb Kohl and other city leaders have claimed that the city's downtown basketball arena is outdated and not fit for an NBA team. On Wednesday, a top NBA official, soon to be the league's top executive, made the case clear. “One obvious issue we all have to deal with is we need a new arena in Milwaukee,” said Adam Silver, deputy National Basketball Association commissioner, speaking of the BMO Harris Bradley Center. Silver was speaking to a private audience at the “Bucks Partner Summit” in the Discovery World Museum Pilot House on Milwaukee’s lakefront. Silver said he supports the efforts of Kohl and the Bucks to keep the team viable and in Milwaukee. Silver, in response to a question from moderator, Matt Parlow of Marquette University, said Kohl’s ownership of the Bucks is one of the team’s great strengths and that Kohl is committed to keeping the team in Milwaukee. The Bucks and the Bradley Center have done well to reinvest in the downtown Milwaukee arena now known as the BMO Harris Bradley Center, Silver said. ... Silver said he “just got a tour” of Milwaukee’s NBA arena and concluded it is too small and still falls short on amenities. “At the end of the day compared to other modern arenas in the league, this arena is a few hundred thousand square feet too small,” Silver said. “It doesn’t have the sort of back-of-house space you need, doesn’t have the kinds of amenities we need. “It doesn’t have the right sort of upper bowl/lower bowl (seating) configuration for the teams frankly that Milwaukee wants to compete against,” he said. ... Silver said league officials are aware new NBA-quality arenas are being planned in Seattle, Las Vegas and Kansas City, which don't have NBA teams now. League officials are happy to share the NBA’s specifications for such structures but are not entertaining new franchises. “We’re not even considering expanding right now,” Silver said. As evidenced by those other cities’ interest in attracting an NBA team, the league retains its prestige, Silver said. Being an NBA town “signifies a certain stature for a city in this day and age,” he said. “It signifies a major league image.”[/rquoter]
Seattle should be first in line for a new team IMO. Seattle deserves a team more than many current NBA cities today.
Vegas Bucks, and change the logo to $$$ When I watch Bucks games at Bradley Center, the stadium doesn't ever seem half full. The team somewhat has a history with Abdul-Jabar and Yi Jianlin (just kidding), but I don't think there's much interest in basketball there.
This gives credence to Simmons' theory that Seattle will be used as a bargaining chip from here on out to extort municipal funds for arena construction. Kansas City has had an NBA-ready arena for years now and has never been seriously mentioned as a relocation city. Milwaukee has the benefit of a seemingly loyal owner in Herb Kohl, but it's a very small market that may not be open to providing public funds for a new arena. Seattle looms.
It sucks that Seattle is probably more valuable to the NBA now as a city that DOESN'T have a team, than as a viable landing spot for a team looking to move. The hanging threat of an incredibly feasible, basketball-hungry city like Seattle over cheap owners and lackadaisical fan bases is the best thing that could happen for the NBA, and its growing predominance of publicly-funded arenas. I feel really bad for Seattle residents that they were victimized by that modern-day Music Man, Clay Bennett.
Allow me to translate this: "Insanely rich guy wants taxpayers to help him become more insanely rich. Other insanely rich guys from his club agree this this is a good idea."
Who now regrets Houston cutting an arena deal with the Rockets? I wouldn't say I regret it, but if it were coming up today I probably wouldn't support it like I had back then.
Not local atm, but given the current TV situation, seems ridiculous that many of the same taxpayers who funded these stadiums can't watch these teams play.
Ya'll are cold-blooded. The Bucks have been in Milwaukee for over 40 years. They won a championship there. They had Abdul Jabbar, the Big O, and Moncrief. They've been no great shakes for at least the last decade, but I'd still think it a travesty for them to leave.
Don't forget that they'll lockout an entire season just to squeeze a couple million per team from the players, and they'll lie on their financials to do it.
