Metropolitan Milwaukee Association of Commerce President Timothy Sheehy said that his group is “optimistic that major local corporations will commit to raising sponsorship support for the Bradley Center, a move he said was a significant first step towards a new facility,” according to Don Walker of the MILWAUKEE JOURNAL SENTINEL. Sheehy said that “a group that includes Bradley Center and Milwaukee Bucks representatives had been meeting with corporations to convince them to raise sponsorship support beginning this summer or the beginning of the Bucks' regular season.” He said that he “hoped a formal announcement of the financial commitment could come in a month or so.” Sheehy declined to say “what companies his group was talking to, but said the financial support was well over $6 million.” He said: "It's the first brick in the road to a new facility." Walker notes increased financial support for the venue “would not only give the Bradley Center a sounder financial footing, it would demonstrate" to the NBA that the community is "committed to supporting" a franchise. More corporate support also “is an incentive for the Bucks to sign a longer-term lease with the Bradley Center.” The team played this season “without a lease,” and that practice “has been commonplace in recent years.” Bradley Center officials and Bucks Owner Herb Kohl have said that the community “needs to consider a new facility for the Bucks and other tenants, noting that the building has a useful life of between five and seven years” (MILWAUKEE JOURNAL SENTINEL, 4/25).
