When the schedule was released months ago, the Milwaukee Bucks were slated to play a home opener against the New York Knicks at the Bradley Center on Saturday night. Instead, the NBA lockout has forced the city’s largest arena, and the site of the last 23 Bucks home openers, to sit even more empty than usual. With negotiations now extending into the regular season, the earliest possible date fans could get to see Andrew Bogut, Brandon Jennings and household name Luc Richard Mbah a Moute hoop it up in the Bradley Center is Dec. 3.
Obviously, the NBA’s uncertain start date isn’t good news for Bucks fans. Even worse, the Bradley Center’s lightened events calendar means less job security for the arena’s staff. But one less-talked-about bit of blowback is the realistic possibility of losing 41 nights (43, when counting preseason) that could’ve been otherwise allocated to staging major music events in Milwaukee’s largest indoor venue this winter and spring.
According to the Bradley Center’s website, the 550,000 square-foot edifice can hold up to 20,000 concertgoers. That capacity is more than eight times the seating capacity of nearby Riverside Theater (2,450) and approximately 15 times the seated capacity of its downtown neighbor Pabst Theater (1,339). In recent years, the bulky Bradley Center has been the site of performances by Bruce Springsteen (at left), Lady Gaga, Taylor Swift and Kings Of Leon (pre-backstage vomiting and mid-show departure era), to name just a few. Historically, the arena has played host to a myriad of top-tier music performers, which included the likes of Jay-Z, Bon Jovi, Britney Spears, Elton John, Billy Joel, Rolling Stones, Usher, Prince, Neil Diamond, Metallica, Garth Brooks, Janet Jackson, Dave Matthews Bands and virtually every other modern music legend one could conjure.
Yes, many of those performers could, would and have played gigs at the also-appropriately-sized local likes of the State Fair grounds, the Summerfest grounds (including its crown jewel, the Marcus Amphitheater) or Alpine Valley in nearby East Troy. However, those venues are of the outdoor variety and not exactly conducive to the conditions Mother Nature liberally lobs at Wisconsinites between autumn and spring.
To the Bradley Center’s credit, there have been a few music events wedged into the arena’s schedule between the remaining (possible) Bucks games, 38 Milwaukee Admirals games and 16 Marquette basketball contests. Holiday mainstay Trans-Siberian Orchestra will play Dec. 15, country star Brad Paisley comes to town Jan. 13, and Michael Jackson: The Immortal World Tour (which technically counts?) takes over the center from March 16 to March 18. Musicians (and Pat McCurdy) will also play after select Admirals games.
Still, with every Bucks home game lost at the expense of the lockout, and with every additional week the fate of the NBA’s remaining schedule is left to hang in the balance of greed and entitlement, one of Milwaukee’s best all-season entertainment resources will continue to not be used to its full potential. We’ll never know the shows that may have been available to Milwaukeeans had we known the fate of the games, even those lost already, but it’s easy to imagine at least one of the dates originally set aside for a Bucks game being used to host a popular performer instead.
It’s all just speculation, woulda’s, coulda’s and roads not travelled at this point, but I believe the 10 nights (and counting) cleared by cancelled Bucks games had an impact on more than just NBA fans and Bradley Center staff. It may have cost Milwaukee a tour stop – if not “stops” – by major musical talents. So here’s to coming to a decision on whether to play an NBA season in any capacity or to possibly salvage a notable arena act this spring.
At this point, anything would be an improvement.
Bradley Center photo by Josh Robbins.
Bruce Springsteen photo courtesy of muzzleofbees.com.
