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Shades



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PostPosted: 12/15/18 9:55 am    ::: WNBA in Milwaukee? Reply Reply with quote

Sounds like the billionaire owner of the Bucks may be interested.
https://www.tmj4.com/sports/basketball/milwaukee-bucks/billionaire-bucks-owner-wants-to-bring-a-new-professional-sports-team-to-milwaukee

Quote:
"We're looking at sort of investing in another sports franchise that we would try to bring here to Milwaukee," Lasry said.

Lasry announced Friday morning at the Milwaukee Business Journal Power Breakfast , that he has his eye on a new franchise, and although he didn’t say which sport or which league he did say it’s a women’s professional team.



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ClayK



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PostPosted: 12/15/18 10:46 am    ::: Reply Reply with quote

On the one hand, it would be great if the Liberty found a home and an owner who cared, and even greater if there was actual cash involved in the sale of the franchise.

But on the other, the league almost has to have a team in New York (or somewhere near).



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Shades



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PostPosted: 12/15/18 11:02 am    ::: Reply Reply with quote

ClayK wrote:

But on the other, the league almost has to have a team in New York (or somewhere near).


What’s your rationale again, some sort of old school thinking? A franchise in NYC isn’t practical now, and the way the Liberty are being handled isn’t exactly painting the WNBA in a flattering light.



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Randy



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PostPosted: 12/15/18 11:06 am    ::: Re: WNBA in Milwaukee? Reply Reply with quote

Shades wrote:
Sounds like the billionaire owner of the Bucks may be interested.
https://www.tmj4.com/sports/basketball/milwaukee-bucks/billionaire-bucks-owner-wants-to-bring-a-new-professional-sports-team-to-milwaukee

Quote:
"We're looking at sort of investing in another sports franchise that we would try to bring here to Milwaukee," Lasry said.

Lasry announced Friday morning at the Milwaukee Business Journal Power Breakfast , that he has his eye on a new franchise, and although he didn’t say which sport or which league he did say it’s a women’s professional team.


The bolded part makes it sound like buying an existing team.



Quote:
While Lasry said this is something he’s working on, he didn’t give a definitive date on when Milwaukee might see the new team in town. He also said the team wouldn't play at Fiserv Forum and only attract about 1,000 people per sporting event.


Not very high hopes. Who would bring a WNBA an only expect it to draw about 1000 people. Why would they play in an arena that seats 17,500?


Shades



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PostPosted: 12/15/18 11:22 am    ::: Re: WNBA in Milwaukee? Reply Reply with quote

Randy wrote:
Shades wrote:
Sounds like the billionaire owner of the Bucks may be interested.
https://www.tmj4.com/sports/basketball/milwaukee-bucks/billionaire-bucks-owner-wants-to-bring-a-new-professional-sports-team-to-milwaukee

Quote:
"We're looking at sort of investing in another sports franchise that we would try to bring here to Milwaukee," Lasry said.

Lasry announced Friday morning at the Milwaukee Business Journal Power Breakfast , that he has his eye on a new franchise, and although he didn’t say which sport or which league he did say it’s a women’s professional team.


The bolded part makes it sound like buying an existing team.


Not necessarily. They could try to bring an expansion team in, but an already existing team may be closer to being a winner.

It’d be nice to get past the point of teams moving from city to city to actual expansion so the league might actually grow in popularity having more nationwide exposure.


Randy wrote:

Quote:
While Lasry said this is something he’s working on, he didn’t give a definitive date on when Milwaukee might see the new team in town. He also said the team wouldn't play at Fiserv Forum and only attract about 1,000 people per sporting event.


Not very high hopes. Who would bring a WNBA an only expect it to draw about 1000 people. Why would they play in an arena that seats 17,500?


Maybe he went to a Sky game? 🤷🏻‍♂️

He said they wouldn’t play at Fiserv Forum, not would.



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toad455



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PostPosted: 12/15/18 11:43 am    ::: Reply Reply with quote

They have that nice new arena, why not put the team in Fiserv to fill dates in the summer? Maybe they could play at Panther Arena? Seats 10,000+ for basketball. Panther Arena currently houses the Milwaukee Panthers(NCAA), Milwaukee Wave(MASL), Milwaukee Admirals(AHL). Panther Arena also housed the WBL's Milwaukee Does from 1978-1980.



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Randy



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PostPosted: 12/15/18 3:54 pm    ::: Re: WNBA in Milwaukee? Reply Reply with quote

Shades wrote:
Why would they play in an arena that seats 17,500?

Maybe he went to a Sky game? 🤷🏻‍♂️

He said they wouldn’t play at Fiserv Forum, not would.


Makes more sense now. Glad you caught that. Still expecting only about 1k fans per game does not sound like a WNBA team. (And even if he did go to a Sky, Liberty or Dream game - why would he admit that up front?) NWSL teams also seem to have a lot more fans showing up for games as well. What else is there? Volleyball?


toad455



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PostPosted: 12/15/18 4:16 pm    ::: Reply Reply with quote

Milwaukee already has an indoor soccer team and a minor league hockey team. Maybe an arena football team? But it clearly states women's pro team. Maybe the NWHL?



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Rock Hard



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PostPosted: 12/15/18 6:02 pm    ::: Reply Reply with quote

I went to most of the Sky preseason games that were played at the Al McGuire Center. There was never a large audience at the games. But the people that were there loved the games.



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Randy



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PostPosted: 12/15/18 6:40 pm    ::: Reply Reply with quote

In reading the article again, I wonder if I misread the 1,000 per game comment (along with wouldln't for would*) . Maybe he was saying the wouldn't play in the Bucks arena and only draw 1000 per game." In other words -the plan isn't to have a team drawing lousy crowds in the Bucks huge arena.



*As well all know people make this mistake all the time.


Richard 77



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PostPosted: 12/15/18 7:36 pm    ::: Reply Reply with quote

The pro women's team currently in Milwaukee are the Milwaukee Aces. Perhaps they are being watched as to what the current fan base is in the city regarding women's bb.

https://www.milwaukeeaces.com/



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StevenHW



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PostPosted: 12/16/18 4:27 am    ::: Reply Reply with quote

Richard 77 wrote:
The pro women's team currently in Milwaukee are the Milwaukee Aces. Perhaps they are being watched as to what the current fan base is in the city regarding women's bb.

https://www.milwaukeeaces.com/


I went to that website, and noticed the team is part of the Women’s Basketball Development Association, which I never heard of before. So, I went to their website and found out that it was formerly called the Women’s Blue Chip Basketball League.

https://www.wbdapro.com/home



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toad455



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PostPosted: 12/16/18 8:52 am    ::: Reply Reply with quote

StevenHW wrote:
Richard 77 wrote:
The pro women's team currently in Milwaukee are the Milwaukee Aces. Perhaps they are being watched as to what the current fan base is in the city regarding women's bb.

https://www.milwaukeeaces.com/


I went to that website, and noticed the team is part of the Women’s Basketball Development Association, which I never heard of before. So, I went to their website and found out that it was formerly called the Women’s Blue Chip Basketball League.

https://www.wbdapro.com/home


The only notable player I could find that played in that league was Yvonne Turner(2016 - Nebraska Strikers; WNBA's Mercury 2017-present).



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toad455



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PostPosted: 12/16/18 9:03 am    ::: Reply Reply with quote

The Al McGuire Center on Marquette University holds just 3,700. And looks like it's mostly bleacher seating.




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toad455



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PostPosted: 12/16/18 9:05 am    ::: Reply Reply with quote

UW Milwaukee Panther Arena holds 10,783.




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ClayK



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PostPosted: 12/16/18 1:13 pm    ::: Reply Reply with quote

New York and L.A. remain the most powerful media centers in the country, and national coverage is affected by presence in both those cities.

The WNBA has a reasonably high profile in cities with a franchise, but it is otherwise pretty much invisible in the rest of the country (aside from those of us here). Subtracting New York would be a huge blow to the league, in many ways. (If you can't make it in New York, a basketball hotbed, what are the odds in Milwaukee?)



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FrozenLVFan



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PostPosted: 12/16/18 3:38 pm    ::: Reply Reply with quote

With a push from the NHL, the 2 women's pro leagues, NWHL and CWHL, seem to be getting closer to a merger. I wouldn't be surprised if the Bucks' owner was talking about hockey not basketball.


toad455



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PostPosted: 12/16/18 3:53 pm    ::: Reply Reply with quote

FrozenLVFan wrote:
With a push from the NHL, the 2 women's pro leagues, NWHL and CWHL, seem to be getting closer to a merger. I wouldn't be surprised if the Bucks' owner was talking about hockey not basketball.


the NWHL is discussed here: http://boards.rebkell.net/viewtopic.php?t=94390

The merger seems 95% likely to happen. Along with potential expansion teams in Pittsburgh, Washington DC, Chicago & Detroit. Maybe Milwaukee joins instead of Chicago.

https://thehockeywriters.com/nwhl-cwhl-merger-options-issues/



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hyperetic



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PostPosted: 12/16/18 11:15 pm    ::: Reply Reply with quote

toad455 wrote:
Milwaukee already has an indoor soccer team and a minor league hockey team. Maybe an arena football team? But it clearly states women's pro team. Maybe the NWHL?


Maybe an LFL team? ( Yes, I'm being facetious).
tfan



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PostPosted: 12/17/18 12:48 am    ::: Reply Reply with quote

ClayK wrote:
New York and L.A. remain the most powerful media centers in the country, and national coverage is affected by presence in both those cities.


It seems like the WNBA has almost no national coverage. I think it is limited to the ESPN.com WNBA section, which puts out a small number amount of articles, with I believe the majority written by Michele Voepel. Since they are contractually obligated to broadcast WNBA games on ESPN2, they would probably want to keep that section even without a New York team.


CompSci87



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PostPosted: 12/18/18 2:55 am    ::: Reply Reply with quote

Milwaukee is less than 100 miles from Chicago, so it would be odd just for spacing reasons to add a WNBA team there.


Shades



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PostPosted: 12/18/18 8:30 am    ::: Reply Reply with quote

CompSci87 wrote:
Milwaukee is 100 miles from Chicago, so it would be odd just for spacing reasons to add a WNBA team there.


Milwaukee has NBA and MLB teams.

The college teams UW-Milwaukee and Marquette are pretty respectable basketball-wise, so you can probably draw interest from those fans plus neighboring Green Bay.

Beaver Dam, WI, has the #16 high school team in the country.
http://www.espn.com/espnw/sports/article/25519174/a-tiny-town-called-beaver-dam-one-best-girls-basketball-teams-country

NYC is about 128 mi from Uncasville.
Chicago is about 180 mi from Indianapolis.

I think billionaire owners who want to acquire several sports teams in the area is just what the WNBA needs. They don’t have to watch every penny like say the last owners of the Sparks. Dolan is a little different because the Liberty don’t come from his personal money but are part of a publicly traded company.



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Randy



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PostPosted: 12/18/18 12:50 pm    ::: Reply Reply with quote

The drive from Chicago to Milwaukee (and back) is terrible. The roads are mess and traffic crazy. I doubt many fans from one of the cities would be going to games in the other city.


Shades



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PostPosted: 03/28/19 11:15 am    ::: Reply Reply with quote

Randy wrote:
The drive from Chicago to Milwaukee (and back) is terrible. The roads are mess and traffic crazy. I doubt many fans from one of the cities would be going to games in the other city.


You’re familiar with the area?



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Randy



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PostPosted: 03/28/19 12:26 pm    ::: Reply Reply with quote

Shades wrote:
Randy wrote:
The drive from Chicago to Milwaukee (and back) is terrible. The roads are mess and traffic crazy. I doubt many fans from one of the cities would be going to games in the other city.


You’re familiar with the area?


Just drove to Milwaukee (and back) from Indiana a few weeks ago. And twice in the past year. So yeah - more familiar than I would like to be.


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