A strip club across the street from the Bradley Center? The Milwaukee Admirals, Marquette University and Milwaukee Bucks joined together to say no! They sent a letter to Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett and members of the Milwaukee Common Council. The letter of opposition to the strip club was released to the media this morning. The American Hockey League Admirals, Golden Eagles of the Big East and Bucks of the NBA joined voices in opposition to the proposal to lease city-owned space located at 4th and Highland to the operators of a strip club.
Silk is a popular strip club for Wisconsinsites, and they are looking to build another strip club adjacent to state’s biggest venue for NBA and college basketball, as well as minor league hockey.
However, team leadership is trying to shoot it down.
The letter was signed by Ron Walter, executive vice president of business administration for the Bucks; Larry Williams, vice president and director of athletics for Marquette; and Jon Greenberg, president of the Admirals.
“As the primary tenants of the BMO Harris Bradley Center, we strongly object to the proposal to lease city-owned space located at 4th and Highland to operators of a gentleman’s club…Without a doubt the presence of a strip club will change the way our neighborhood is perceived and hurt our business,” the letter stated. “Many of our customers park nearby or live close enough to walk, and therefore would be involuntarily subjected to having to deal with a strip club’s existence when they visit our home.”
Of course, this battle against the city to prevent a nearby strip club is coming at a time when Bucks Owner, retired Senator Herb Kohl, seeks money from the city to build a new arena for the Bucks. Kohl said he’ll put up some of his own money, but he’s pretty ridiculous to demand a new arena when the current facility is only 25 years old. Especially demanding a new facility for a franchise that isn’t exceedingly popular and hasn’t won anything in multiple decades.
And that could still easily turn into another Sacramento situation, where the team demands a new arena, or they leave town.
Downtown Silk MKE LLC applied for a license to allow Adult Entertainment/Strippers/Erotic Dance on the ground floor of a city-owned building, one of the two main parking garages for the Bradley Center. Silk Exotic is offering $10,000 in monthly rent for 10 years, but they have been denied a tavern license multiple times.
According to Silk, the outdoor signage of the building would not indicate that it’s a strip club. That’s not enough for Barrett as he’s previously stated the city does not want a strip club, and especially not across the street from the Bradley Center, which specializes in family events.
The Bradley Center board and the owner of the nearby Aloft Hotel have also sent letters opposing the strip club, and the Milwaukee Area Technical College board will consider taking a stand against the strip club Tuesday night. Of course, there’s an element of hypocrisy to this. I’ve shown you some pictures of strip club atmosphere. Now here are some pics of the Milwaukee Bucks dance team, who perform at Bucks games:
Is there really that much difference between what you see on the floor of Bucks games versus what you see in a strip club?
Paul M. Banks is the owner of The Sports Bank.net, an affiliate of Fox Sports. He’s also an analyst for multiple news talk radio stations across the country; with regular weekly segments on NBC and Fox Sports Radio. Follow him on Twitter (@paulmbanks) and RSS Catch him Tuesdays talking Illini and Northwestern for KOZN 1620 The Zone, Fridays talking Chicago Bears for WAOR 95.7 The Fan