The Bucks Could Leave Milwaukee
As if the Bucks didn’t already have enough problems after Michael Redd went down with a season-ending injury, it looks like the franchise’s days at the Bradley Center in the city of Milwaukee are numbered.
Since signing Glenn “Big Dog” Robinson to a $68.1 million contract back in 1994, Sen. Kohl has spent more than a half-billion dollars – that’s right, more than $500,000,000 – on player contracts in an attempt to keep the team viable in this small market.
It has been widely reported that he has been losing millions each season and the senator was in strong conversations (some would term it negotiations) to sell the team to a Michael Jordan-led group a few years back before he abruptly pulled the plug on that sale with the caveat that when he did sell the club, it would be to a group committed to keeping the franchise in Milwaukee.
Maybe I’m old-fashioned, but if you have shelled out more than a HALF-BILLION DOLLARS with no results, perhaps it’s time for a change of scenery.
Think about it, if you were a multimillionaire with clear fiduciary responsibilities, would you want to lose money on a multimillion-dollar deal? If you purchased the Bucks from Sen. Kohl, you would begin to lose money as soon as the ink was dry on the contract because the Bradley Center would continue to be an albatross around any new owner’s neck. And the prospect of constructing a new basketball arena in this city is almost an impossibility given the public’s benevolence in the case of Miller Park, making a new owner that much more inclined to move the team elsewhere.
How long do the Bucks remain in Milwaukee?
Source: Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
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January 28th, 2009 at 10:53 am
Cass says:
That’s insane – a half-billions dollars gets you the last decade of Milwaukee Bucks teams?
January 28th, 2009 at 10:54 am
Skip says:
Wow. I don’t know who Sen. Kohl is, but he’s crazy.
January 28th, 2009 at 10:54 am
fallinup (Black Dynamite = Best Movie Evar!) says:
Oh whoa is poor Sen. Kohl. $68.1 million for Big Dog.
He deserves to lose that money after the idiotic moves thats been made with the Bucks. Sell it to MJ. At least in a few years, when MJ runs the Bucks even further into the ground, people will have forgotten how shitty of an owner Sen. Kohl was.
January 28th, 2009 at 10:57 am
Big Sia says:
ray allen / sammy buckets was worth it
January 28th, 2009 at 11:05 am
loganlight says:
Seattle bound!!!
January 28th, 2009 at 11:06 am
Ashlov says:
Goodbye, Milwaukee. Hello Seattle Star-bucks!
January 28th, 2009 at 11:21 am
Mamba says:
Kohl has said he will only sell the team to someone who will keep it in Milwaukee,
The League would have to step in and say otherwise,
January 28th, 2009 at 11:26 am
doc (i like kobe AND bron) says:
Get them outta there.Nobody wants to go to Milwaukee anyway.Bring them to Philly so we can have 2 teams like LA and NY in other sports.
January 28th, 2009 at 11:27 am
fallinup (Black Dynamite = Best Movie Evar!) says:
Keeping the Bucks in Milwaukee was the reason that Kohl bought the team in the first place back in the 80′s. It’s inevitable that it should move. Milwaukee isn’t all that great. They have the beloved Brewers that aint going no where and ofcourse, if your out of Wisconsin, you live, eat, and breathe Packers. The Bucks will never be a major team…because Milwaukee will never have a major market with ChiTown being less than a couple hours away.
Plus is stinks like an old beer bottle in Milwaukee. haha
Kohl should cut and run.
January 28th, 2009 at 11:35 am
northern lights says:
lmao @ skip – I don’t know who that guy is either, but a half-billion dollars on the bucks, of all teams, is simply ludicrous
January 28th, 2009 at 11:41 am
fallinup (Black Dynamite = Best Movie Evar!) says:
Herb Kohl is not only a US senator. But his family, mainly him and his bro…own and run Kohl’s. It’s #184 on the Forbes Fortune 500….Sooo, Herb isn’t exactly hurting by wasting $500,000,000 on the Bucks.
January 28th, 2009 at 12:11 pm
Diego says:
It’s not like he lost $500,000,000.
In fact, back when the Bucks had Ray, Cassell and Big Dog in their prime, they had a championship calibre team. BUT, they brought in Anthony Mason as the final piece and that plus coach George Karl resulted in some horrible team chemistry and the team has been in the dumper pretty much ever since.
If all of these sports franchises are losing so much $, why does everyone want to own one? If I had the $ to own a franchise, I’d keep it forever, regardless of profits or lack thereof.
Also, I just flat out hate it when franchises move.
January 28th, 2009 at 12:16 pm
Chaos says:
Milwaukee hasnt appreciated the Bucks in years so i would move them to SEATTLE!
January 28th, 2009 at 12:24 pm
HBooyah says:
Seattle – yeah! Let’s rev up the “new arena in Seattle” talks again!
January 28th, 2009 at 12:25 pm
Diego says:
Oh, and the Atlanta Journal Constituion reports today that the Hawks/Thrasher (hockey) owners have LOST $174 million since the
January 28th, 2009 at 12:25 pm
Lee says:
Guess it’ll move to Seattle, Las Vagas or Europe
January 28th, 2009 at 12:25 pm
Diego says:
Whoops! …2002-2003 seasons. Ouch!!!
January 28th, 2009 at 12:37 pm
Austin Burton says:
And I think the Bucks are on a year-to-year lease with the Bradley Center; meaning a Seattle-based group could conceivably buy the team and move it sooner rather than later. I don’t wanna get my hopes up too much, but I’d be all about Luc Richard Mbah a Moute in Sonics colors… (The fans here would forget every bad thing we ever said about Luke Ridnour, too.)
January 28th, 2009 at 12:56 pm
SayItAintSo says:
Speak for yourself AB…I’d not only remember every bad thing I said about Ridnour but I’d attend every future game to shout at Ridnour, letting him know how worthless he is…
January 28th, 2009 at 12:56 pm
Celts Fan says:
You guys are dead-on. You CAN’T own a sports team for profit, it has to be a labor of love, BUT you can’t be losing hundreds of millions of dollars either.
and let’s call it like it is, Herb won’t sell to anyone that’ll move the team cuz he wants to keep the “Senator” title before his name.
January 28th, 2009 at 1:02 pm
Kim Jong Il says:
Milwaukee is a small market team so they’ll never be able to make enough revenue through ticket sales and whatnot. However, half a billion dollars over the past 14 or so years is not really all that much if you think about it..it’s just like having to pay players around $35 million a year, which probably averages to about what the salary cap was over the same time period. He’s not losing all that much money, he probably gets some money back from the luxury tax, and plus the losses he is taking are a huge tax shelter for the millions he is making in other business. So, all in all Sen. Kohl is not making out too badly, he just has to deal with a crappy team, and just dream of landing the #1 pick some year, since no marquee player will ever want to play in Milwaukee
January 28th, 2009 at 1:07 pm
doc (i like kobe AND bron) says:
He had the top pick and picked fucking Bogut over CP3 so he deserve it.
January 28th, 2009 at 1:10 pm
akash says:
Bring em to vancouver
January 28th, 2009 at 1:29 pm
Drink the Haterade (KB24 Chip 09) says:
Aron– you should do a story you get one player to start your squad with over the last decade, who would it be, you can make an argument for KB,CP3, Timmy D, LBJ and so on…
January 28th, 2009 at 1:50 pm
Celts Fan says:
amen Doc, and anyone that watched college ball knew CP3 was the pick. I don’t care what the “experts” said, that wasn’t a question…
January 28th, 2009 at 1:59 pm
Austin Burton says:
@Celts Fan — At the same time, Kohl is in his 70′s; he can’t be planning on being a Senator too much longer.
January 28th, 2009 at 2:08 pm
Kobeef says:
Hate to burst your (Austin) bubble but I think the next NBA team is going to Las Vegas.
January 28th, 2009 at 2:45 pm
E. Marcel says:
Vegas, baby Vegas!!!
January 28th, 2009 at 2:46 pm
E. Marcel says:
I say Vegas because the Grizzlies are moving to Seattle.
January 28th, 2009 at 2:49 pm
wMS2 says:
Correct me if I’m wrong, but owning sports franchises is like owning a home. You don’t really make cash off it in the present, but you sell them in the future when they are a hell of a lot more expensive. I guarantee that if you look back at how much Kohl bought the Bucks for vs. how much they would be worth now, he will have made out just fine.
January 28th, 2009 at 2:52 pm
that's whats up says:
the question is….
WILL ANYONE NOTICE???
January 28th, 2009 at 2:54 pm
that's whats up says:
what they really need to do is move those ugly-ass cheerleaders they got to another country.
they should be in rebuilding mode with their cheerleading squad
January 28th, 2009 at 3:04 pm
Jeremy J says:
Man look at everyone just hating on the Bucks. AB you’re killing me. I’ve lived in Milwaukee my whole life, I live and BREATHE the Bucks. That column was talking 5-10 years down the road they could be gone. Milwaukee probably won’t publicly fund another arena, but I have a feeling when Sen. Kohl’s time comes to an end he’ll pony up the cash and donate a new arena. This man has very little family and no children. Who’ll get his money when he dies?
The current Bradley Center was a gift from the Pettit family, they actually built it because they wanted an NHL team (HA). They were hockey nuts.
I think something similar has a shot of happening here. You can’t take billions with you to the grave. The only thing Milwaukee has going for it is two major league sports teams. I don’t think we really want to lose one.
January 28th, 2009 at 3:06 pm
Desrat says:
One cool thing about carrying a title from a public office is that it follows you after you lreave the job (unless you are stripped of it). Once Sen. Khol, always Sen. Khol. I was arguing with some people about what the coolest title to have would be, like the VP of the US is the “Leader” when he is in the senate and technically that tiles follows him. That was my co workers choice. I would like to be elected to the Supreme Commander of Allied Forces, a position at the UN.
January 28th, 2009 at 3:27 pm
Austin Burton says:
@Jeremy J — I don’t like seeing cities lose their teams. It’s happened to me (kinda) twice: I’m a Browns fan and remember when the team left for Baltimore, and now this Sonics business. That said, we’re not sympathizing with anyone when it comes down to getting a new team. Sorry, I don’t care if it’s Milwaukee, Charlotte, Memphis, whoever. I can be selfish in this case.
January 28th, 2009 at 3:52 pm
Jeremy J says:
AB I can’t really sympathize, I’ve never been through it, but I see where you are coming from. The frustrating thing about teams moving is it’s not the fans fault. The Bucks haven’t been competitive in the past 8 years because of a series of terrible managerial decisions. They expect fans to keep coming out and dropping wads of cash, but thats pretty one sided.
I know Sen. Kohl has spent a lot of money but if I put rims and subs and jetpacks on my 94 Ford Taurus it’d still be a 94 Ford Taurus.
When people say Milwaukee cannot survive because it is a small market that seems silly. San Antonio wins chips every other year in their small market. It’s all about making the right moves. When the Bucks were in the ECF they were 13th in attendance that year. Had they strung a few more seaons like that together they could have probably cracked top 10. The Brewers sold out almost half their home games last year in a 42,000 seat stadium. The market size is irrelevant, people will show up to see winning teams. When they show up they buy shirts, hats, and order the jalepenos with their nachos. Money can be made in Milwaukee, they just need the product.
AB hopefully you’ll get a new Sonics some day…let’s just pray they’ll be coming from Charlotte or Memphis.
January 28th, 2009 at 8:07 pm
George W Kush Sr says:
Seatle Bucks?
Las Vegas Bucks?
January 28th, 2009 at 8:17 pm
that's whats up says:
Don’t give a Bucks
January 29th, 2009 at 12:45 am
Austin Burton says:
@Jeremy J — You’re right, it’s not on the fans, but that’s who suffers. The Sonics went to the playoffs in 2005 and KeyArena was rocking; three years later they were gone. The fault was really on previous owner Howard Schultz, who unexpectedly wanted to sell because the team wasn’t making money year-by-year (he didn’t grasp the concept that, like somebody stated earlier, you sit on it and make your money when you sell the team) and knew what would happen if he sold to a group from OKC. The Bennett-led OKC group was determined to leave from day one.
January 30th, 2009 at 10:00 pm
Octopus Jonny says:
It’s in Sen. Kohl’s will that, should he die, whoever inherits the Bucks must keep them in Milwaukee.
February 10th, 2009 at 7:01 pm
goldeneaglesfan says:
The NBA made a mistake by letting the sonics go to OKC. I really feel bad for the Sonics fans who sold out every game to save the team. (esp. considering the product) Like someone said earlier, I do not believe that Kohl will sell to someone that will move the team. The attendance will improve if the team improves. The wild card brewers team completly turned the franchise around and brought tons of money to the team. All the Bucks need is one season like that and they will be back on track.
March 3rd, 2010 at 2:09 am
CardsChiefs says:
We welcome the Bucks with open arms to the city of St. Louis. I say get rid of our NFL team, The Rams and bring on some pro hoops. NBA or not The Rams should leave anyways. We need basketball in this city!!!