Wisconsin governor Scott Walker has announced a new $500 million Milwaukee Bucks Arena deal, that will hopefully move the team one step closer to securing it’s place in Milwaukee for the foreseeable future.
According to Scott Bauer of AP Sports:
“Doing nothing on an arena will cost the state $419 million over the next 20 years,” Walker tweeted.
The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, citing unnamed sources, previously reported that taxpayers will be on the hook for $250 million, growing to $400 million including interest. Current Bucks owners would contribute $150 million, with another $100 million coming from former U.S. Sen. Herb Kohl, a former team owner.
What Walker announces Thursday will not be “substantially different” from what was previously reported, said state Sen. Alberta Darling, co-chair of the Legislature’s budget-writing committee.
“This is a much better deal than most other projects like it around the country,” said Darling, who added Walker asked her not to release details of plan ahead of his afternoon news conference.
The Bucks were struggling to find a home and a year ago there were talks that either them or Sacramento would be moving to Seattle, but now both teams seem to be securely staying put in their current cities. The Bucks made it to the playoffs this year after a surprising run, a young and talented athletic team under a young head coach, with a young star in Jabari Parker, the Bucks are a scary team in the East.
