Wisconsin Entertainment and Sports Center
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| Location | Milwaukee, Wisconsin |
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| Coordinates | 43°2′42.1″N 87°55′5.4″W / 43.045028°N 87.918167°WCoordinates: 43°2′42.1″N 87°55′5.4″W / 43.045028°N 87.918167°W |
| Owner | Wisconsin Center District |
| Operator | Milwaukee Bucks |
| Type | Arena |
| Capacity | 17,500 |
| Construction | |
| Broke ground | June 18, 2016 |
| Opened | September 2018 (expected) |
| Construction cost | $524 million ($524 million in 2016 dollars) |
| Architect |
Populous HNTB Eppstein Uhen Architects |
| Project manager | ICON Venue Group |
| Structural engineer | ZS, LLC |
| Services engineer | M–E Engineers, Inc. |
| General contractor | Mortenson Construction |
| Tenants | |
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Milwaukee Bucks (NBA) (2018–beyond) (planned) Marquette Golden Eagles (NCAA) (2018–beyond) (planned) |
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| Website | |
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The Wisconsin Entertainment and Sports Center is the tentative name of a $524 million multi-purpose arena in downtown Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Groundbreaking and construction began in June 2016, and completion is expected in 2018. It will serve as the home of the Milwaukee Bucks of the National Basketball Association (NBA) and the Marquette Golden Eagles men's basketball team.
Despite being one of the premier NBA facilities when completed in 1988, the BMO Harris Bradley Center is currently one of the oldest active NBA arenas. The BMO Harris Bradley Center is unique in that it was a gift from a family without any provision for the building's long-term capital needs or annual operating expenses. While the facility is self-sufficient, the BMO Harris Bradley Center tenants such as the Bucks are at a disadvantage compared with other NBA teams due to the arrangement.
Building a new downtown arena was proposed by former Bucks owner and former U.S. Senator Herb Kohl. There was considerable discussion in the region about the idea of a publicly funded arena and ultimately no resolution was reached. In 2009, Wisconsin Governor Jim Doyle included a provision in the state's capital budget seeking $5 million in state bonding support to renovate the Bradley Center. The Bradley Center's board of directors told state officials that the building needs $23 million in renovations, so they reportedly agreed to raise the remaining $18 million on their own.
On September 18, 2013, then-deputy NBA commissioner Adam Silver toured the arena and said it was a few thousand square feet short of NBA standards, and also lacked numerous amenities. Soon afterward, the NBA gave the Bucks an ultimatum—get a new arena, or be close to completing a replacement, by the start of the 2017-18 season. If not, the league would buy the franchise from Lasry and Edens and sell the Bucks to one of two prospecting ownership groups in Las Vegas and Seattle, which would've meant certain departure of the Bucks from Milwaukee. On April 16, 2014, Kohl announced an agreement to sell the franchise to New York City hedge-fund investors Marc Lasry and Wesley Edens. The deal included provisions for $100 million each from Kohl and the new ownership group, for a total of $200 million, toward the construction of a new downtown arena. On July 15, 2015, the Wisconsin Senate approved funding for the new arena by a 21-10 margin, and on July 28, 2015, the Wisconsin State Assembly approved funding by a 52-34 margin. On August 12, 2015, Governor Walker signed the arena spending plan at Wisconsin State Fair Park in West Allis, Wisconsin.
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Wikipedia