Opinion | Bucks’ Owners Should Be Spending the Bucks

The past few months in Milwaukee have been very interesting. The Bucks made it to the playoffs for the first time in two years and have been in the news off the court as well. Since the start of the season, the Bucks management has been organizing finances for a new arena in downtown Milwaukee to replace the current arena (BMO Harris Bradley Center). The owners have been informed by the NBA that if they don’t have an arena by fall of 2017, the Bucks could relocate to another city. They have since come up with a potential location and design for the arena. The only thing standing in the way is how they are going to pay for it. The most popular plan to pay for the arena would include borrowing up to $150 million from the state and donating money to the plan. In my opinion, I would love to see the Bucks get a new arena, but I do not want them to borrow state money to finance the price.

I don’t think this is a good idea because the state is already suffering from changes financially (UW budget cuts) and borrowing state funds will only make it worse. I would love to see the Bucks get a new arena, but to borrow money from the state to do it is not a good idea. I think the owners and Gov. Walker can help pay for it by putting more of their money on the table. That way, they don’t need to borrow money from tax payers and the state. These owners should realize that the path they are choosing to walk could really hurt the state of Wisconsin in the long run. There are three reasons why we shouldn’t borrow state funds the pay for the arena: hypocrisy, public opinion and history.

First, the people involved seem to act hypocritical. I and many people on social media have commented that these owners are showing signs of hypocrisy during this ordeal. A recent example of this reveals that one of the Bucks’ owners, Marc Lasry, was involved with raising up to $270,000 for Hilary Clinton’s presidential campaign (Milwaukee Business Journal). This shows signs of hypocrisy by showing that these owners have the money but won’t to put it all on the table.

The second reason is the public’s opinion. Besides social media, people of Milwaukee have expressed their concern through polls. Earlier this month, a poll was taken by officials at Marquette for the state borrowing money to pay for the arena. Results from the poll revealed that 79% of the voters were against the idea of borrowing money (WISN 12). Those people were aware that $150 million was a lot of money to borrow and it won’t be easy to pay off. If everyday people can see that, then why can’t the businessmen? This leads to the third reason.

The final reason is this city’s history. This situation relates to the saying, “Those who don’t know their history are condemned to repeat it” (George Santayana). This implies to all the way back to when Miller Park was built. Construction for Miller Park started in 1996 and opened in 2001. The cost of the construction of the stadium was roughly $400 million. Miller Park was basically built “on the backs of tax payers” (JSOnline). The park has been open for 14 years and people in Wisconsin are still paying off the construction. If we are still paying off Miller Park’s construction, do you think it’s a good idea to do the same thing for the Bucks arena? Is the city of Milwaukee really ready to pay for yet another multimillion dollar sports entertainment venue?