May 20, 2011
New Bucks arena plan floated ... oh, wait, it's gone already
It's been a long, long while since Milwaukee Bucks owner Herb Kohl declared that his team would need a new arena by 2012. (So long, in fact, that 2012 seemed far away then.) But now the Bucks arena debate is back on the map, thanks to Metropolitan Milwaukee Association of Commerce president Tim Sheehy:
A prominent Milwaukee business leader said Wednesday that the community needs to discuss "at an appropriate time" the idea of extending the Miller Park stadium sales tax as a way of funding a new arena for the Milwaukee Bucks...
In an interview, Sheehy said he already had begun to form a group of business leaders who have been meeting informally on not only possible extension of the 0.1% stadium sales tax as a means of financing a new facility, but other options.
Sheehy should probably start working on those "other options," because pretty much every prominent elected official in Wisconsin immediately slammed the sales tax extension: a spokesperson for Gov. Scott Walker said he opposed it, Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett called it "a dead issue," and Milwaukee County Executive Chris Abele said, "That's not something I would support."
Sheehy also asserted that a new Bucks arena is "not a next-month problem," but rather one for the next five or six years. Since the Bucks are currently breaking even and increasing in value, it's hard to say exactly what the urgency is — but maybe Sheehy, like Kohl eight years ago, just came up with a date that seems politically feasible, without waiting so long that the food apocalypse arrives before then.
October 09, 2009
Here comes the next stadium wave
Blame it on Cowboys Stadium, or blame it on Ed Roski, but there certainly seems to be a rush of teams looking to get back on the new-stadium line these days, despite having old stadiums that aren't even of legal drinking age.
The latest is Atlanta Falcons owner Arthur Blank, who yesterday reiterated that he wants a new home to replace the 17-year-old Georgia Dome, ideally as soon as the dome's bonds are paid off, which could be as soon as 2015. "The Falcons are falling behind other teams in the NFL in terms of the experience for our fans," Blank told reporters, in what has to be an allusion to the Cowboys' new building. The Falcons owner was previously reported to be scouting sites around Atlanta for a new building; he says it would be paid for by a mix of public and private funds, which doesn't actually explain anything, but sounds good in the papers.
Also upping the ante: NFL VP Frank Supovitz, who the day before told the Greater Miami Chamber of Commerce that the Miami Dolphins' 25-year-old Land Shark Stadium — don't worry, only a couple more months of this before we can go back to calling it Dolphins Stadium — may not be modern enough to host more Super Bowls after this season. "You have to look at what the other cities are offering in terms of comfort," said Supovitz, noting that in Miami fans and players are actually exposed to the weather. "I'm not going to have anyone rained on in North Texas. They're not going to get rained on in Indianapolis." Dolphins CEO Mike Dee said the team is "working with the NFL to see what should be done," which is certainly a nice way of casting the league as Bad Cop should the team demand a new or vastly renovated stadium.
Then there's Milwaukee, where the Bradley Center just turned 21 years old last week, and Ulice Payne, the chair of the arena's board of directors, declared Tuesday that the buildinghas only eight years left before it turns into a pumpkin. (Among Payne's complaints: Its scoreboard is 14 years old, and it has ceramic tiles, which are so 1990s.) Bucks owner Herb Kohl hasn't commented yet, but he's previously proclaimed his desire for a new, younger facility. As for Payne, he first got involved in sports as a member of Miller Park's board, which he then parlayed into a turn as CEO of the Brewers — so it's always possible he's just angling for a job in basketball this time.