So it’s the end of the week, and you’re asking, where’s that new Milwaukee Bucks arena funding plan that Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker promised us would avoid using tax money? We now have one, but it was announced not by Walker, but by state senate majority leader Scott Fitzgerald. And the magic is:
The proposal from Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald, R-Juneau, would use $150 million in funding from the Board of Commissioners of Public Lands and its $1 billion in assets. It’s similar to a loan that funded improvements to the Green Bay Packers’ Lambeau Field.
Wait, but, but … that isn’t a funding source at all — that’s just a loan. (The Packers loan was repaid by…) How would the state make its payments on the $150 million? Sen. Fitzgerald? Anyone?
In addition, the lawmakers would need to provide a financing mechanism to pay off the bonds such as the one proposed by Walker, who wants to use the increase in income taxes paid over time by the Milwaukee Bucks players and those of rival teams.
Yeah, a little bit, huh? Headline writers of the world (particularly, but not limited to, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel), do you even stop to check whether a new arena funding option is actually involved before typing the words “new arena funding option”?
What seems to be involved here is an attempt to do two things: Get a lower interest rate on the arena debt (though municipal bonds are pretty cheap to begin with) and borrow the money through a program that uses the interest payments to fund public school libraries, thus enabling the state government to claim that it’s helping school libraries. (The number of school libraries that could be built with the actual $150 million, and not just the interest on it, goes unmentioned in these articles.) It’s not much, but when you’re throwing stuff at the wall to see what sticks, it’s as good a way of trying to generate momentum out of thin air as anything.
Unfortunately for Fitzgerald, the mayor of Milwaukee hates his plan, probably because it opens up an additional $70 million funding gap that the city could be expected to fill. The racino phase is still very much on.
What’s hilarious is that everyone at the state level, including Walker himself, has said that the original Walker is dead, dead, deadski. Yet, here’s Mayor Barrett saying he prefers that plan, and by golly, he’s gonna make it work in any way he can.
Err, original Walker PLAN, that should say.
Milwaukee, obvious you can’t afford to build an arena…………Seattle is waiting, patiently……
That’s funny Shawn, but how many NBA team owners are going to be happy to endorse relocation/purchase by a guy who tried to scuttle some other team’s arena plans ? It’s not like Ballmer’s involved anymore either.
@ChefJoe
You’re right, the owners won’t want to necessarily endorse Hansen himself but they’ll endorse Seattle if there is no way to get a Milwaukee arena done. Putting Seattle back in the game eliminates a lot of PR headaches and they won’t have to address expansion anymore. The ONLY reason that expansion is even bandied about is due to trying to get Seattle back in the game. If the Bucks relocate, that will suck but behind closed doors, most owners prefer to be in Seattle.
ChefJoe, you don’t think Ballmer, acting as the owner of the Clippers, wouldn’t help help make Seattle’s case at a Owner’s meeting? Ballmer has dramatically increased the value of every single NBA franchise, so his voice will carry some weight. And this is why Chris Hansen is being so quiet and patient:
http://espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/10818521/nba-buy-milwaukee-bucks-no-arena-construction-2017
Neil, Thanks for the great reporting on the inanity and insanity in MKE.
One great (for Bucks’ owners) part of MKE Mayor Barrett’s plan mentioned above is to give the Bucks a “bonus” parking structure now owned by city taxpayers, so that the Bucks can “generate more revenue.” The garage is reportedly worth $7.5 million, but “reporter” Don Walker does not reveal how much revenue the city would forever be giving up. Bucks would also be free to tear down the city’s parking gold mine and use it for some of the “ancillary” development that will benefit only the Bucks. But everyone should be happy that the mayor has stepped up to the plate and pledged (way more than) the city taxpayers’ “fair share.”
@ChefJoe:
They let Ballmer buy a team after he helped/encouraged Hansen to go after the Sacramento arena, so obviously that history isn’t as important as you think it is. If it makes them more money and protects their rights as owners, they’ll approve it. That’s why the Sonics move was approved in the first place, and it’s why the league has been so deliberate in messaging the Milwaukee process.