While the Bucks have "set a goal of increasing season ticket sales," the team also plans to "raise prices for prime seats at the new arena," according to Rich Kirchen of the MILWAUKEE BUSINESS JOURNAL. Bucks President Peter Feigin said that the franchise plans to "maintain affordable ticket prices for less-affluent basketball fans at about $15." Feigin said when the new arena opens in '17 or '18, ticket prices for the best seats in the house "definitely will go up." Feigin: "I promise you the first five to seven rows -- the prices will go up." Feigin since arriving in Milwaukee in October '14 has said that the Bucks "need to improve on their position of lagging the rest of the NBA in ticket sales to businesses." Between 15-17% of the Bucks season-ticket sales "go to business buyers compared with the league-wide average" of 68%. But Feigin said that the Bucks' owners "are committed to providing affordable ticket prices to the average fan" (BIZJOURNALS.com, 9/30).
MAD RUSH FOR MADTOWN: In Milwaukee, Matt Velazquez noted the Bucks on Tuesday "kicked off their 2015-'16 campaign with a three-plus hour practice" at the Univ. of Wisconsin. It marked the "first of four days the team will spend practicing in the state capital." Bucks GM John Hammond said, "With everything that we were going through (for the arena), the fact that we were in Madison a lot anyway from a political standpoint -- [Feigin] and his group -- it fit. It's kind of almost like a home away from home for us and our organization." Velazquez notes the Bucks and their new owners "have made a concerted effort to market the team to the whole state." That branding "began as the organization solicited state funding for its new downtown arena, but has continued." The Bucks also "launched a statewide tour" (MILWAUKEE JOURNAL SENTINEL, 9/30). In Madison, Tom Oates writes for all the "monumental changes the Bucks made over the past year, the brightness of their future really depends" on whether F Jabari Parker "become the bona fide NBA star a championship-caliber team needs." Everything else "seems to be in place for the Bucks." Oates: "Their new ownership has brought cash, ideas and an aggressive mindset to the franchise. They have funding in place for a new arena." They also extended Hammond’s contract and added longtime NBA exec Rod Thorn as a special consultant, "giving them a high-quality front office." Oates: "They have one of the NBA’s best young coaches in Jason Kidd. They have a core group of 25-and-under players who are the envy of the NBA." The Bucks "brought the first week of their camp to Madison in part because they want to reclaim their long-lost status as a state team." But the best way to do that "is still to win, and the best way to win is for Parker to get back on the path toward greatness" (WISCONSIN STATE JOURNAL, 10/1).
