Wisconsin governor signs arena funding bill to keep the Bucks in Milwaukee

The legislation will provide $250 million in public money to the Bucks’ new arena -- a replacement for the team’s longtime home, BMO Harris Bradley Center -- over the next 20 years. The new arena’s planned cost is estimated at $500 million, while the total cost to taxpayers will eventually be about $400 million when accounting for interest. The hope is that the new facility will be ready by the start of the 2017-18 season.

Prior to being signed into law by Walker, the bill passed bipartisan votes in both the state’s Senate and Assembly in July.

The Bucks’ owners, who needed to raise funds for a new arena as a condition for purchasing the team, will now officially keep the team in Milwaukee for the foreseeable future. The NBA had the right to buy back the team and likely relocate it if a new facility was not funded. Those fears can now be put to rest. Milwaukee will be keeping its team.

“It’s critical not only for those who love sports, but the main reason I got into it was because it protected state revenues,” Walker said recently.

Still, the decision by Walker is an interesting one given his track record as a fiscal conservative and relationship to the Bucks’ owners, as Bloomberg Politics notes. A candidate for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination, Walker has long championed lower taxes and less government. However, a group supporting his candidacy also received a $200,000 donation from the team owners, which may draw attention.

Walker has responded by denying any relationship between the decision and those donations, arguing that the $400 million in public money and subsidies is a “good deal” for the state. “I didn’t care whether it’s the owners or not,” Walker told reporters. “What we are trying to do is make sure we’re protected from having a major hole in our budget.”

Either way, the bill has been signed by Walker, the state has committed the money and the Bucks have the deal they wanted to stick in Wisconsin. While there are still details that need to be figured out at the local level, the team owners will be providing about half the funding for the arena, with public money covering the other half.

Of the $250 million initially being paid by the state, $47 million “would come from the City of Milwaukee providing a parking structure and tax incremental financing.” The other $203 million would come from a series of bonds, a decrease in state aid and “an increase in a ticket surcharge and the extension of existing local hotel room, rental car, and food and beverage taxes.”

Opponents to the bill have said the deal will benefit wealthy owners at a time when the state is cutting spending on infrastructure and the University of Wisconsin higher education system, according to the Journal Sentinel. Those concerns have once again been outweighed by fears of a professional sports team relocating, though.

After a lot of politics, the Bucks are officially staying in Milwaukee.