The Bucks are pursuing a naming-rights sponsor for their new arena that will pay "somewhere between" $7-10M per year over 20 years, and team President Peter Feigin "believes that the team has narrowed its list of potential partners down to half a dozen," according to Darren Heitner of FORBES. Feigin "hopes to have one of them locked up within the next four to six weeks." The Bucks are "focusing on three particular sectors: technology, insurance and payment systems." The final six suitors are "split evenly between being headquartered in the U.S. and abroad." Naming rights discussions "started in good faith roughly 18 months ago," and Feigin admits that his organization "is a 'bit behind' in closing" a deal. The team's new arena is slated to open in the fall of '18. Feigin also "acknowledges that instead of keeping conversations behind closed doors, he is opting to go to the marketplace and explain what he believes to be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to potential partners." Feigin: "We might have a perception of what a small-market NBA team is. But physical, geographic market size no longer matters in the NBA. More than 50% of our impressions come from outside the U.S. ... It doesn't matter anymore whether you're in Oklahoma City, San Antonio or Milwaukee." Heitner noted the Bucks believe they will "find a naming rights partner that has no existing sponsorship with the team" (FORBES.com, 10/16).
BLOCK PARTY: In Milwaukee, James Nelson reports Bucks execs believe the new arena's outdoor plaza and Live Block will be "used up to 150 days a year, and attract city residents and suburbanites with a craft brewery, concerts and 3-on-3 basketball tourneys." Bucks co-Owner Wes Edens said, "I want to give people a reason to get out of their houses in the suburbs in the middle of the winter and drive downtown." Nelson notes the Bucks are "looking at a combination of ways to 'activate' the plaza now under construction." Real estate developer Blair Williams, who is working with the Bucks on the project, said that in addition to 55-65 Bucks and Marquette basketball games, the plaza "will be used for many other events." Nelson notes the Bucks originally "planned for the Live Block to be up and running when the arena opens a year from now." However, that timeline has "slipped, and the size of at least one of the buildings ... has been reduced from four to two stories." The team said that it will "reveal details about the tenants, presumably including the brewery, in a couple of weeks" (MILWAUKEE JOURNAL SENTINEL, 10/17).
