MILWAUKEE — The home of the Milwaukee Bucks, Marquette Golden Eagles basketball team and the AHL's Milwaukee Admirals now has a new name: BMO Harris Bradley Center.
Previously known as just the Bradley Center since its opening in 1988, a new partnership with BMO Harris Bank, Harley-Davidson, Kohl's, Northwestern Mutual and Rockwell Automation will put the new name in effective immediately.
Signage with the new name will soon appear on the outside of the building, on the scoreboard, as well as several other locations throughout the arena.
Between all of the businesses involved, more than $18 million was raised. Harris Bank's sponsorship is a six-year agreement.
"The investments by these committed local champions will help extend the life of our building and enhance the fan experience to help assure the Center's continued success over the next few years," Marc Marotta, Bradley Center Board chairman, said in a press release Monday morning. "While there is more to be done, the initial phase of this effort has certainly created a strong foundation for the bridge between the Bradley Center and the future. The investments by the local business community in the Bradley Center have set the stage for what we think can be a productive, private-public partnership. We hope others join in this effort to assure we can continue to maintain this first-class building."
However, this is all just a temporary solution for Bucks owner Herb Kohl's long-term goal of keeping the team in Milwaukee.
"We want to stay in the NBA (but) in order for that to continue, we have to have a new facility," Kohl said on May 4. "There isn't anybody that doesn't recognize that and understands that it has to happen. We're no longer talking about it in terms of ‘At some point in the future.' We're talking about beginning to make plans to get it done."
At the time, Kohl acknowledged that it would take "maximum effort" by the Bucks, the business sector and the private sector in order to get the new arena that the team needs to stay a part of the NBA beyond the next six years.
"This needs to be a broad, broad coalition," Kohl said at the time. "It can't be just the Milwaukee Bucks."
With the next six years taken care of for the Bucks playing at the BMO Harris Bradley Center, now the bigger work will begin for the team to try to secure funding for an entirely new arena around the year of 2018.
