While there is no site yet selected for the Bucks' proposed arena in downtown Milwaukee, "let alone a concept," team ownership has "managed to nail down a crucial component in their drive to build a new arena; the support of powerful and prominent businesspeople in the region," according to Don Walker in a front-page piece for the MILWAUKEE JOURNAL SENTINEL. While it is "widely expected there will be vigorous opposition to any form of public financing for the arena, the support from prominent business executives is viewed as a huge asset once team owners announce where they hope to build an arena" and how it will be financed. Some of the new Bucks owners "also are supporters of Gov. Scott Walker and other legislators in the Republican-controlled Legislature." That connection, and the Bucks' "effort to frame the arena as an economic development project that will benefit many, could play a pivotal role in the legislative debate to come." State Sen. Robin Vos on Friday said that "'direct taxpayer support' is not a realistic possibility." But he is "warming to a proposal that would divert the taxes paid by visiting NBA players, the Bucks players and sales taxes paid at the game toward paying the debt service on state bonding" (
MILWAUKEE JOURNAL SENTINEL, 1/13).
THE DATING GAME: SPORTSBUSINESS JOURNAL's Don Muret reports the Bucks "have an interesting choice to make among the three design teams competing for their new arena project." The three entities "bidding for the job are Populous teamed with HNTB, Milwaukee design firm Eppstein Uhen and builder Mortenson; AECOM and Hunt Construction, the company AECOM bought last summer; and 360 Architecture alone without a general contractor." Sources said that all three teams "interviewed for the job a few days before Christmas" (SPORTSBUSINESS JOURNAL, 1/12 issue).
FEELING FLOORED: In Milwaukee, Lee Matz reported the owner of the Bucks' MECCA court design "that made Milwaukee famous" in the '70s said that he "will put it up for sale." Ben Koller said that he will "no longer lead a project to display the iconic floor locally." Koller: "I'm making the decision to put the MECCA floor on the market. I'm seeking an owner committed to permanently and publicly displaying the floor intact. I'm looking for someone to take the project where I no longer choose to take it." Matz noted the Bucks first unveiled the court design in '77 when "internationally renowned artist Robert Indiana turned it into the world's largest pop art painting" (BIZJOURNALS.com, 1/12).
