Now that the Bucks are NBA World Champions, it's hard to imagine them not being here in Wisconsin, but it almost happened. In 2015, there was a very real possibility that the team would relocate to Seattle or Las Vegas. As a Bucks fan, I couldn't let that happen.
Part of being a world-class city is having professional sports franchises with world-class facilities. Without the Bucks, Wisconsin would have lost at least $130 million in income tax revenue over the next 20 years and an additional $169 million in income tax revenue growth over that same time.
Every dollar the state invested in this project is expected to deliver two dollars in economic growth. More than that, our state would lose the prestige of being the home of a major professional sports franchise.
As a member of the budget-writing, Joint Committee on Finance, I helped guide the bill that would keep the Bucks in Milwaukee and protect taxpayers. I'm proud of the bipartisan effort to keep professional basketball in our state. Now, a few years later, the Bucks are World Champions! The Bucks are an anchor for the city of Milwaukee and our state.
