3:27pm: Lowe cautions that he didn’t run into either Kahn or anyone from the Bucks this past weekend, so he hasn’t independently confirmed the story, even though he’s heard the rumor over the past few days (Twitter link).
3:20pm: Grantland’s Zach Lowe seconds the report, having heard plenty of chatter about the news at All-Star weekend (Twitter link).
2:53pm: Former Timberwolves GM David Kahn is the front man for a group that’s looking to buy a share of the Bucks from owner Herb Kohl, tweets Gery Woelfel of The Journal Times (Twitter link). Woelfel reported nearly a month ago that there were four “serious suitors” who were considering bids for the team, but Kohl appears to be seeking to add minority owners for now.
Milwaukee might be the league’s most unstable franchise, given the desire of Kohl and the NBA for a new arena. The team’s lease at the Bradley Center, the team’s home for the past quarter-century, expires in 2017. Milwaukee civic leaders have been reluctant to fund upgrades to the existing facility, and while Kohl is “obsessed” with building a new home for the team, as Woelfel wrote last month, it appears securing public funding will be an uphill battle. Concerns about the viability of the Milwaukee market is making the league hesitant to expand to Seattle or anywhere else in the near future.
It’s unclear just how large a stake Kahn and his partners are looking for, or just how much of a role any minority ownership will play in the team’s quest for a new arena. Woelfel pegged the value of the team at anywhere from $380MM to $500MM in his earlier report.
I dont want the bucks to leave but if Kahn buys them please move the team. You ruined the T-Wolves, id rather not have a team
Kahn if accepted would be a minority owner. I doubt he would have much power or say with the Bucks…..plus if the reports are correct, Kohl will stop at nothing to keep the Bucks in Milwaukee of which I deeply respect so his seeking investors might be him just trying to keep the Bucks in Milwaukee and another step towards a new arena deal but thats just my opinion on the matter.
Bucks are to the point where I don’t think they can survive in the Milwaukee market. Years past their has been reports that Kohl has taken loans from the NBA to help get through the year but I guess he has always found ways to pay them off. Either way watching Bucks games on TV is just discouraging because its so empty. Plus with Kohl trying to get public funding and the city seeing that they figure money best be served elsewhere than help a team that is noncompetitive. Plus the Brewers when they built Miller Park they got help from surrounding counties as well and the counties that helped Bucks some of them already have said their not going to help. At some Kohl is going to have to realize that with the 2016 deadline coming up to secure a new arena he is going to have to sell the team off completely and in the end this might end up being the franchise that goes out to Seattle.
Only way Kohl is going to get a new building is to have the Governor in his corner, and help push it. (Only way the Brewers got Miller Park was with Thompson’s arm twisting.) This Governor, for now, doesn’t seem interested in this issue. I remember back in the early 80s when this team was a Eastern Conference powerhouse (and consistently wiped out by Dr. J or Larry Bird). At this point Kohl’s ownership has destroyed this team’s credibility. This franchise deserves better, if that means a new start somewhere else, I’m all for it.