The sale of the Milwaukee Bucks basketball team will provide a high-profile taxing and leadership test for Gov. Scott Walker.
The key to keeping the team in Milwaukee is construction of a modern stadium with lots of seats. No price estimate has been issued for such a facility but it could costs hundreds of millions of dollars.
Herb Kohl, the former U.S. senator who owned the team, has pledged $100 million, and the new owners have agreed to contribute another $100 million. But public dollars will be needed for such a huge project, according to Franklyn Gimbel, chair of the Wisconsin Center District in downtown Milwaukee. But the district already has tens of millions of bonds which won't be paid off for 18 years.
"There's a little space to travel until the public buys in to supplement it with some kind of tax," Gimbel told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
Three nearby Republican dominated counties - Waukesha, Ozaukee and Racine - have indicated they don't want to help provide any tax money. They were among the counties which are helping pay an additional 0.1 percent sales tax for Miller Park, the baseball stadium which is home to the Milwaukee Brewers.
Gov. Walker doesn't appear anxious to play an early leadership role. He has other things on his mind: getting re-elected governor and then competing for the Republican nomination for president or vice president in the 2016 election.
The governor said he first wanted to hear from local officials about the basketball situation. Proponents of a new stadium say it would hurt Milwaukee's image as a "major-league city" if the new owners were to move the Bucks to a different city. It's Walker's image that could be affected if he were to champion some sort of tax to pay for a new basketball arena.
A new or expanded tax would need the approval of the Legislature and the governor. Walker is ahead in his bid for re-election, and gerrymandering has assured that Republicans will continue to control the next Legislature.
Athletic arenas can be tough issues for politicians. Democratic Gov. Tony Earl lost a bid for a second term in 1986 when he backed the idea of building a state prison near the site of County Stadium, then the home of the Milwaukee Brewers. Owner Bud Selig wanted a new stadium near County Stadium.
In the 1986 election Republican gubernatorial candidate Tommy Thompson ran TV ads showing a prison being dropped onto County Stadium. Nearly a decade later Thompson led the fight for the five-county sales tax increase to help finance what is now Miller Park.
Thompson says that legislative struggle was the toughest issue he faced in 14 years as governor. Retired Brewer heroes like Hank Aaron and Robin Yount came to the State Capitol to sway legislators. The State Ethics Board gave its approval to allow the ex-heroes to sign autographs for the elected officials.
But it was Thompson who provided the political push that led to an all-night session in which the State Senate gave final legislative approval for the sales tax plan. Thompson was not shy about the leadership role which he played.
Promoting a local tax for professional basketball will be more difficult than Thompson's effort for professional baseball. But Wisconsin has several top-flight college teams including Marquette and the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay. The University of Wisconsin-Madison basketball team, which almost got to the national collegiate championship game this year, has captured the hearts of most Wisconsin basketball fans.
- Matt Pommer, a 35-year veteran of covering state government in Madison, writes the weekly State Capitol Newsletter for the Wisconsin Newspaper Association. His column is published Monday in the Times.
The key to keeping the team in Milwaukee is construction of a modern stadium with lots of seats. No price estimate has been issued for such a facility but it could costs hundreds of millions of dollars.
Herb Kohl, the former U.S. senator who owned the team, has pledged $100 million, and the new owners have agreed to contribute another $100 million. But public dollars will be needed for such a huge project, according to Franklyn Gimbel, chair of the Wisconsin Center District in downtown Milwaukee. But the district already has tens of millions of bonds which won't be paid off for 18 years.
"There's a little space to travel until the public buys in to supplement it with some kind of tax," Gimbel told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
Three nearby Republican dominated counties - Waukesha, Ozaukee and Racine - have indicated they don't want to help provide any tax money. They were among the counties which are helping pay an additional 0.1 percent sales tax for Miller Park, the baseball stadium which is home to the Milwaukee Brewers.
Gov. Walker doesn't appear anxious to play an early leadership role. He has other things on his mind: getting re-elected governor and then competing for the Republican nomination for president or vice president in the 2016 election.
The governor said he first wanted to hear from local officials about the basketball situation. Proponents of a new stadium say it would hurt Milwaukee's image as a "major-league city" if the new owners were to move the Bucks to a different city. It's Walker's image that could be affected if he were to champion some sort of tax to pay for a new basketball arena.
A new or expanded tax would need the approval of the Legislature and the governor. Walker is ahead in his bid for re-election, and gerrymandering has assured that Republicans will continue to control the next Legislature.
Athletic arenas can be tough issues for politicians. Democratic Gov. Tony Earl lost a bid for a second term in 1986 when he backed the idea of building a state prison near the site of County Stadium, then the home of the Milwaukee Brewers. Owner Bud Selig wanted a new stadium near County Stadium.
In the 1986 election Republican gubernatorial candidate Tommy Thompson ran TV ads showing a prison being dropped onto County Stadium. Nearly a decade later Thompson led the fight for the five-county sales tax increase to help finance what is now Miller Park.
Thompson says that legislative struggle was the toughest issue he faced in 14 years as governor. Retired Brewer heroes like Hank Aaron and Robin Yount came to the State Capitol to sway legislators. The State Ethics Board gave its approval to allow the ex-heroes to sign autographs for the elected officials.
But it was Thompson who provided the political push that led to an all-night session in which the State Senate gave final legislative approval for the sales tax plan. Thompson was not shy about the leadership role which he played.
Promoting a local tax for professional basketball will be more difficult than Thompson's effort for professional baseball. But Wisconsin has several top-flight college teams including Marquette and the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay. The University of Wisconsin-Madison basketball team, which almost got to the national collegiate championship game this year, has captured the hearts of most Wisconsin basketball fans.
- Matt Pommer, a 35-year veteran of covering state government in Madison, writes the weekly State Capitol Newsletter for the Wisconsin Newspaper Association. His column is published Monday in the Times.
