Herb Kohl, Milwaukee Bucks Owner, announced today that he has sold the team to Wesley Edens and Marc Lasry. The new ownership group means that the Milwaukee Bucks, or as I call them “Milwaukee’s Big Ten Team,” are staying put in Brew City?
So yey? Excitement? Huzzah? Rejoice?
MKE will continue to have a NBA franchise…if we can still refer to the Milwaukee Bucks as an NBA franchise. For legal purposes, yes we still can.
Maybe you don’t really care about this story; and I certainly don’t blame you for your apathy. Maybe the city of Milwaukee itself is rather apathetic too. That’s very understandable. But we know some people are actually excited about this news. Sen. Herb Kohl bought the Milwaukee Bucks for $18,000,000 in 1985 and he will now sell them for a valuation of $550,000,000.
So he’s happy.
The NBA should be ecstatic too. Even their Fredo franchise is still worth over half a billion dollars.
My priority has always been and will continue to be keeping the Bucks in Milwaukee,” said Kohl. “This announcement reinforces that Milwaukee is and will continue to be the home of the Bucks. Wes and Marc agree, and they share my commitment to the long-term success of this franchise in Milwaukee.”
Kohl pledged a gift of $100 million towards the building of a new arena for the Milwaukee Bucks. As the Bradley Center is only 26 years old, it’s kind of absurd and pointless to think that the Milwaukee Bucks need, much less deserve, a brand new arena. Then again, what’s even more absurd is the fact that pretty much every other arena in the league is older than the BC.
That’s insane.
And it’s why Kohl and the Milwaukee Bucks believe a franchise that performs as terrible as this one, with as little fan interest as this one, is deserving of a new arena.
Fine. As long as they pay for it. Don’t ask for a red cent from the taxpayers. No way.
Paul M. Banks owns The Sports Bank.net, an affiliate of Fox Sports. He’s also a frequent guest on national talk radio. Banks is a former contributor to NBC Chicago and the Washington Times, who’s been featured on the History Channel. President Obama follows him on Twitter (@paulmbanks)