A task force charged with planning a new Milwaukee arena or an expansion of the current one is being formed by area business leaders.It’s no secret that the Bradley Center is the worst facility in the NBA: the old, limited facility provides fewer revenue streams than a more modern arena. Opening in 1988, the Bradley Center is showing its age, and both business leaders and Bucks management would like to see a new facility, preferably at the Wisconsin Center site. (Wisconsin Center is the convention complex formerly known as Midwest Airlines Center, and it includes the smaller U.S. Cellular Arena, the former MECCA, as well as the old Milwaukee Auditorium, as shown above.)
The task force, being formed by Timothy Sheehy, president of the Metropolitan Milwaukee Association of Commerce, will include local business leaders and representatives from the NBA’s Milwaukee Bucks and the AHL’s Milwaukee Admirals.
Funding any new arena will be a challenge, and Sheehy is casting a wide net of politicos and business leaders to serve on the task force. The last time a new sports facility was built with public funding, the bruising political battle created lots of rancor in the area: several counties were placed in a special taxation district to fund Miller Park. This time around there’s plenty of sensitivity about that battle: Racine County, which helped fund Miller Park, has already been informed it would not be part of an arena taxation district.
