<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">Casting a wary eye to the future, Ulice Payne Jr., the chairman of the Bradley Center board, said Wednesday that the time is now for the community to discuss a new home for the Milwaukee Bucks. Payne said the soon-to-be-completed lease agreement between the Bradley Center and the Bucks - expected to be four years with options to renew - would likely be the last long-term lease between the two sides. That means that, over a period of four to seven years, the community must decide whether or not to build a new home for the team, or risk losing the franchise, he said. "There's not much more juice left in this orange," Payne said in referring to the ability of the Bradley Center to provide for the Bucks economically. The Bradley Center, a gift to the community by Jane Bradley Pettit and opened in November 1988, is one of the oldest arenas in the National Basketball Association. In Payne's view, the Bradley Center cannot generate the amount of revenue National Basketball Association teams need to stay competitive. A new arena near the Bradley Center can do that, Payne said, and allow the Bradley Center to operate as a major concert and show venue as part of a larger sports and entertainment zone. "The saving grace right now is that we have a homegrown U.S. senator who loves his state," Payne said of Sen. Herb Kohl (D-Wis.), the owner of the Bucks since March 1985. "We can't rely on that. It's a bit risky. In the NBA, it's a dollar and cents game." Payne said the solution to financing a new arena would have to come from the private sector, though government will have a role to play in terms of providing infrastructure. "The private sector is the solution," Payne said, adding that he was opposed to taxation as a means of financing a new arena. "We need to lead the charge." Franklyn Gimbel, chairman of the Wisconsin Center District board, said that if a community believed in keeping a professional sports franchise, then it should be supported through public investment. Public investment in the form of taxes creates jobs, boosts tourism, increases hotel visits and produces more food and beverage revenue, he said. The Wisconsin Center District, which operates the U.S. Cellular Arena, the Milwaukee Theater and the Midwest Airlines Center, relies on a host of taxes for its operations, including a 2% tax on hotel rooms countywide, a 3% tax on car rentals, a 0.25% tax on food and beverage sales and a 7% hotel tax formerly collected by the City of Milwaukee. This year, tax collections will total approximately $15 million. Gimbel sounded a note of pessimism that the private sector was the long-term answer. "If Ulice comes around to exhausting the fact that there are no more Jane Pettits in the universe of Milwaukee, and there doesn't seem to be a collection of folks to write giant checks to augment the needs of developing a new arena, the only way it will happen is through taxes. We have the engine." Both Payne and Gimbel acknowledged that politicians in Madison and Milwaukee had no stomach for more taxes. "I think that after the 2006 gubernatorial election, there may be a different view of whether or not having an NBA franchise is of such significance that it's worth a public investment in the property," Gimbel said.</div> Source
