New Bucks Arena

By Sydney Kaine

On June 18th, 2016 groundbreaking and construction began for the new Wisconsin Entertainment and Sports Center. The arena will house the Milwaukee Bucks as well as the Marquette Golden Eagles men’s basketball team. The construction cost of this building is $524 million and is expected to open early 2018. The Milwaukee city council has signed a 30-year lease to pay off the expenses and well as Marquette University for their share of home games.

Many people are content with the BMO Harris Bradley Center. However, not many are unaware that the BMO Harris Bradley Center is 28 years old and one of the oldest active complex centers in the NBA. Besides the fact that the new arena will be another cool building in Milwaukee, there are multiple economic benefits for the city has a whole.

According to a study done by the Metropolitan Milwaukee Association of Commerce, “Milwaukee Bucks’ proposed sports and entertainment district could yield approximately 2,100 permanent non-construction, non-arena jobs. These jobs would be on top of the 14,000 construction jobs projected for the development by the construction group Building Advantage, and the sports and operations jobs at the arena that would be created and maintained by keeping the Milwaukee Bucks in town.” The number of jobs provided through the production of this arena is a marginal benefit, the additional benefit arising from a unit increase in a particular activity.

Not only will the arena provide jobs for citizens but it will appeal to a new crowd, causing there to be an increase in profit for the Bucks and other associations. Just by looking at the blueprints for the arena, I get excited and want to go to a Buck’s game. Aside from games the arena will also house concerts, hockey games, and ice shows such as Disney on Ice!

As with any large decision comes marginal costs, the additional benefit arising from a unit increase in a particular activity. Unlike the Golden state Warriors’ arena that was paid in full by 20 investors, tax payers money in addition to contributors such as the Milwaukee Bucks and Herb Kohl will pay for the funding of the arena. Some people are upset about the change in the increase of taxes.

The opportunity cost of building this multi-purpose, high-tech building is that fewer taxes will go to other needed areas such as improving our highways. However, the opportunity cost of keeping the BMO Harris Center and not building this facility would mean losing out on new profit and thousands of jobs. The marginal benefits outway the marginal costs, therefore, making this arena a positive economic decision for the greater Milwaukee area.  

To see the Buck’s arena preview and vision yourself, please click here to watch a short YouTube video.

Works Cited:

"Wisconsin Entertainment and Sports Center." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 18 Feb. 2017. Web. 19 Feb. 2017.

"Bucks Release New Arena Renderings Ahead of Design Submission to City." NBA. N.p., n.d. Web. 19 Feb. 2017.

Murphy , Bruce. "Murphy's Law: 10 Key Issues in NBA Arena Debate." Urban Milwaukee. N.p., 24 Apr. 2014. Web. 19 Feb. 2017.

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