Re: 2015 Basketball Attendance Numbers
Posted: Wed Jul 08, 2015 2:37 am
Letsgonova wrote:If the Bucks did leave, who would be on the hook/willing to pay for those updates to the BC? Would the city put up that cash just to keep some sort of arena going downtown?
I just bought a condo out in Franklin because work takes me out to MKE a lot, so my presence at the next 'Nova-MU game is becoming quite likely. Liking the town a lot.
I believe the city is on the hook for the BC if the Bucks leave. My guess is our rent might go up in order to offset some of the cost, but we will also be the biggest draw left at the arena so our bargaining power would be increased as well. It would be strange for a city the size of Milwaukee to not have an arena with more than 10,000 seats, but with Wisconsin the way it is right now who knows if they would want to keep the BC going long term.
If they don't, I would expect the university to start putting together some sort of campaign to raise money for something along the lines of a 15,000 seat on-campus arena. We need an arena bigger than the Panther arena and could probably build one suitable for college ball for around $100-150 million. If there is one thing we have in spades at the moment it is land. We have purchased a ton of property over the last year and no plans have been announced for most of it (really only the one parcel is spoken for, as it will contain our new soccer/lacrosse field house and sports medicine research facility). I would expect the university to sit on most of the property until this business is all sorted out.
All in all I'd rather have the Bucks new arena. The proposed location is close to campus, we wouldn't have to raise the extra money (we are already planning to upgrade the dorms, build a new student recreation center, upgrade some academic buildings, build the fieldhouse/sports medicine research center, etc.), we would get to play in one of the nicest arenas any college team gets to use, and we would get to keep our relationship with the Bucks.
Franklin is a nice town. Obviously, since I go to school here I live in the city. If you ever get the chance I highly recommend the beer gardens in Estabrook and Hubbard park. If you are in town at all you should definitely check out some of the festivals too, lots of fun.