Wisconsin Tribe to Offer $220 Million for Bucks Arena In Exchange for Casino Approval

The Menominee Tribe of Wisconsin, in conjunction with the Seminole Tribe who own Hard Rock International, are expected to offer the state $220 million towards a new arena for the Milwaukee Bucks. In exchange, they want approval to build a new Hard Rock Casino in Kenosha (roughly the halfway point between Milwaukee and Chicago). The new Bucks owners have already pledged $150 million for the arena, and outgoing owner Herb Kohl also pledged $100 million toward its construction.

So … done deal?

Eh, not quite. The tribe has been trying to build a casino in Kenosha for over a decade now. As evidenced by the fact that it hasn’t gotten done, there’s a lot of red tape to cut through. It hasn’t been so much an issue of moralists wanting to keep gambling out of their community as the existing Potawatomi casino in Milwaukee and Ho Chunk casinos across the state don’t want to lose market share. The Potawatomi alone provides Wisconsin with $400 million in annual tax revenue, and the state agreed in 2005 to compensate the tribe for any losses they incurred if a new casino opened in Kenosha. Would the Menominee Tribe cover that tab in addition to its arena funding?

Wisconsin governor Scott Walker — who is in the midst of slashing education budgets — has already proposed one of those mythical plans that would provide state financing without cost to taxpayers. Namely, he wants to impose a “jock tax,” which Field of Schemes calculated is incumbent on Bucks players eventually earning an average of $33 million per year. This idea does not appear as though it will pass through the legislature.

Inevitably, there will be a lot more posturing from all entities involved, and it would be a major upset if any of this is resolved soon.