Post by Vegas on Jul 8, 2015 19:26:33 GMT -5
I expect the Bucks to stay in Milwaukee. But now that there is $375 million stadium being built on the Strip for hockey and basketball, I think more teams like the Bucks use the situation here in Las Vegas as leverage to make threats in negotiating deals with their home cities.
Many people expect an NHL hockey team to call Las Vegas home by 2017. An NBA team is now threatening to join them.
According to a report from the Milwaukee Business Journal, the Milwaukee Bucks are looking for approval of $250 million in public funding for a downtown Milwaukee arena. Bucks president Peter Feigin, citing a provision in the Bucks owners’ agreement that construction of a new arena must start in 2015, told lawmakers the NBA will buy back the team and move it to “Las Vegas or Seattle” if that provision isn’t met.
“The window is closing,” Feigin told the Milwaukee Business Journal. “We can’t wait months, even weeks to start the public process.”
The Wisconsin Senate could take up the arena finance bill as early as Tuesday. Feigin says construction must begin by October or November, or else the NBA will start seeking buyers for the team. The team’s lease at the BMO Harris Bradley Center expires in 2017, he said.
“The NBA does not want the Bucks to extend the lease in an inadequate facility,” he said.
The Bucks owners and former owner Herb Kohl have pledged a combined $250 million to the project and are seeking a $250 million public match. The Bucks owners also have created a separate real estate development company that they say will invest $400 million on commercial projects near the new arena over the next decade.
Feigin said over the past decade, about 65 percent of financing for arenas across the country has come from the public.
“This is about building a winner and building a brand and a product,” Feigin said. “It is similar to what the (Milwaukee) Brewers and (Green Bay) Packers have done.”
While the “Give-us-money-or-we’re-moving-the-team-to-Vegas” line is a familiar one, there is one major difference this time: Las Vegas will have an NBA-caliber arena in the $375 million MGM Resorts-Anschuntz Entertainment Group arena that is scheduled to be finished in April 2016.
Could Las Vegas go from hosting zero major league sports teams to hosting two within a couple of years? Only time — and the Wisconsin legislature — will tell.
Rashad Vaughn, the Bucks’ first-round draft pick, would feel right at home in Las Vegas after playing for Findlay Prep and UNLV.
Many people expect an NHL hockey team to call Las Vegas home by 2017. An NBA team is now threatening to join them.
According to a report from the Milwaukee Business Journal, the Milwaukee Bucks are looking for approval of $250 million in public funding for a downtown Milwaukee arena. Bucks president Peter Feigin, citing a provision in the Bucks owners’ agreement that construction of a new arena must start in 2015, told lawmakers the NBA will buy back the team and move it to “Las Vegas or Seattle” if that provision isn’t met.
“The window is closing,” Feigin told the Milwaukee Business Journal. “We can’t wait months, even weeks to start the public process.”
The Wisconsin Senate could take up the arena finance bill as early as Tuesday. Feigin says construction must begin by October or November, or else the NBA will start seeking buyers for the team. The team’s lease at the BMO Harris Bradley Center expires in 2017, he said.
“The NBA does not want the Bucks to extend the lease in an inadequate facility,” he said.
The Bucks owners and former owner Herb Kohl have pledged a combined $250 million to the project and are seeking a $250 million public match. The Bucks owners also have created a separate real estate development company that they say will invest $400 million on commercial projects near the new arena over the next decade.
Feigin said over the past decade, about 65 percent of financing for arenas across the country has come from the public.
“This is about building a winner and building a brand and a product,” Feigin said. “It is similar to what the (Milwaukee) Brewers and (Green Bay) Packers have done.”
While the “Give-us-money-or-we’re-moving-the-team-to-Vegas” line is a familiar one, there is one major difference this time: Las Vegas will have an NBA-caliber arena in the $375 million MGM Resorts-Anschuntz Entertainment Group arena that is scheduled to be finished in April 2016.
Could Las Vegas go from hosting zero major league sports teams to hosting two within a couple of years? Only time — and the Wisconsin legislature — will tell.
Rashad Vaughn, the Bucks’ first-round draft pick, would feel right at home in Las Vegas after playing for Findlay Prep and UNLV.
