Milwaukee Bucks: Where The New Arena Deal Stands

As a Milwaukee Bucks fan, there’s one fear I’ve had in the back of my mind when it comes to the new arena debate and I was wondering if/when it would rear its ugly head.

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This Monday, it became a reality:

"Source cites Bucks’ lack of a winning culture and low popularity as a big reason legislators are less likely to support a funding plan."

Sigh.

Before I go any further, I am fully aware that there are some people who don’t like basketball in the state of Wisconsin. To add to that, I’m fully aware that there are a lot of people that don’t like the Bucks/aren’t fans of the Bucks, partially because of the reasons above.

Therefore, I understand the logic for why some people are opposed to the unofficial (at this time of writing) plan for how the arena would be financed.

It’s an unfortunate reality that Bucks fans have to live with, especially at this point in time in the midst of the heated arena debate.

With that being said, how is it truly fair to look at the history of the team when it comes to deciding the team’s future?

Yes, in general, the team has mired in mediocrity with this past year being one of the few bright spots in recent history. The team hasn’t won a playoff series since 2001 and hasn’t produced an All-Star since Michael Redd in 2004.

Things like that turn off fans and players alike.

A lot of it points to the fact that fans don’t like hitching their wagons to teams that aren’t successful. They don’t like wasting their time and more importantly, their money on perennial losers and it’s hard to gain those one-time fans back.

The Bucks have a bright future, with players and a coach to get behind and while this season was a surprise to die-hard fans like me, there are still skeptics out there waiting to see if the team can truly become a force down the road.

Whether that happens or not, the team’s recent success (or sometimes lack of) should be beside the point when it comes to the arena issue.

For any Bucks fan that’s been spreading the word/advocating for the new arena deal, it’s certainly been a trying time in the past month. Promises regarding an announcement for a deal have floated out publicly for awhile now with the most recent one being promised this past weekend, to no avail.

For what looked to be close to coming together not that long ago, it’s very easy to get cynical about a lack of an announcement and most importantly, a growing lack of enthusiasm from key people that have a deciding factor in the fate of the deal.

Since the intention is for the new arena deal to be included in the state budget, it’ll still be awhile before anything gets presented towards the budget committee and a final form of a deal will be announced.

It’s easy to be frustrated by this process and see it get heavily politicized by advocates and critics alike, but we have to remember that it comes with the territory unfortunately, especially with a deal of such magnitude like this one.

However, a lack of an announcement/”done deal” doesn’t take away from the fact that nothing is official yet and work is still yet to be done.

It’s important to remember that the alternative isn’t much better and if you do want to inform people on the deal, it’s essential to present both sides.

It’s hard to see the forest through the trees sometimes and with a deal as big as this that very well will be a once in a generation type deal, it’s easy for things to be distorted or misinterpreted.

And with that, it’s important to keep spreading the word and voice your support to key people that have a decision regarding the deal (if you aren’t already, I strongly urge you to follow @SaveOurBucks on Twitter and at saveourbucks.com)

It may look dark now, but it’s important to keep focus at this critical time. But hey, nothing easy right?

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