Milwaukee Bucks co-owners Marc Lasry and Wes Edens announced an initial list of local minority investors in the franchise Wednesday, as the NBA Board of Governors have formally approved six who are listed by name.
Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers and Milwaukee Brewers owner Mark Attanasio were not among the group announced, neither were other rumored potential investors like Junior Bridgeman or Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.
"We are so excited about creating a new era of Milwaukee Bucks basketball," Lasry said. "In just a matter of weeks, we have had an incredible draft, brought on a world-class coach, and have now assembled a visionary group of owners from the community."
The six announced by the Bucks on Thursday include: -- Ted D. Kellner, executive chairman of Fiduciary Management, Inc., an investment management firm in Milwaukee.
-- Jim Kacmarcik, president of Kapco, Inc., which includes Kapco Metal Stamping, Advanced Coating and K-Nation Entertainment. Kacmarcik is also the president of the Lakeshore Chinooks, a Northwoods League baseball team based in Mequon, Wis.
-- Craig Karmazin, founder and chief executive officer of Good Karma Brands. Karmazin's company owns multiple radio stations throughout the country with most serving as ESPN Radio affiliates, including ESPN Milwaukee (540-AM) and ESPN Madison (100.5-FM).
--Michael Kocourek, president of Mid Oaks Investments, a private investment firm based out of Buffalo Grove, Ill.
-- Keith Mardak, chairman and chief executive officer of Hal Leonard Corporation, a company which produces sheet music, song books and, method books/CD packs for all instruments and other music products.
-- Teddy Werner, senior director of business operations for the Milwaukee Brewers. He is the son of Boston Red Sox chairman Tom Werner.
The amount of money invested by each of the six was not announced, while the release also stated other several prominent business leaders with close ties to the Milwaukee area were also approved but were not named.
"From day one, Marc and I felt a huge part of the rebuilding process would be dependent on having important leaders from Milwaukee join the ownership of the organization," Edens said. "We believe the future of the Milwaukee Bucks is not only about winning basketball, but also about contributing to Milwaukee and the state of Wisconsin."
Lasry and Edens bought the franchise from Herb Kohl in April for $550 million. The duo made their first big splash in June when they fired coach Larry Drew and negotiated a trade with Brooklyn for Jason Kidd to come and coach the Bucks.
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