Love when you can
Cry when you have to…
Be who you must
That’s a part of the plan
Await your arrival
With simple survival
And one day we’ll all understand…
-Dan Fogelberg, Part of the Plan
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| Photo courtesy of CNN |
Herb Kohl has a plan. He just went on record that the Bucks need a new arena sometime within the next few years to replace the Bradley Center.
Part one of the plan is to put up his own money to contribute to the new building. Which is fine and dandy. Part two of the plan is to have the community pitch in for the balance. Not quite so fine and dandy. Part three of the plan should have the Bucks becoming a winning team, but I haven’t seen that part yet. I’m hoping that becomes a priority for the good senator.
And he has been a very good senator, for 24 years.
Kohl has quietly served four six-year terms in Washington. He’s become more and more popular as attested by his increasing election plurality: In 1988 he won 47 percent to 38 percent. In 1994 it grew to 58-41, in 2000 61-37 and in 2006 67-29. Those are some ringing endorsements.
He has certainly been involved. Kohl is currently chairman of the Special Committee on Aging, and also serves on twelve other sub committees. He’s initiated a bevy of bills and has made a difference in Washington.
Kohl is retiring at the end of this term, which is this year. He will be missed. Maybe he’ll have more time to concentrate on the Bucks.
Hopefully Kohl’s business acumen will help him rally the community. He’s going to need every ounce of it.
Because the biggest roadblock is still how to pay for a new arnea. If the Kohl Center in Madison is a barometer on what Kohl will spend (he contributed 30 percent of the cost to build it, or $25 million), he’ll spend $100 million of the $300 million estimate for the new place. I can’t see him putting up more than that since he’s “only” worth about $250 million. So then that would still leave $200 million that has to come from somewhere else.
Even though a recent survey by The Business Journal says Kohl’s financial commitment will increase support for a new arena, the Milwaukee community has made it clear that getting anything of this magnitude done again will be difficult to say the least. Witness Miller Park, the five-county tax and the recall of George Petak. Witness the trouble Jane Bradley Pettit had getting the Bradley Center built after putting up the entire $90 million construction cost.
And once we clear the financial hurdle, the question remains can Herb Kohl orchestrate putting a winning team on the court?
True, Kohl has been solely responsible for keeping the Bucks in Milwaukee, saving them from certain departure when he bought the team in 1985.
But other than a few glimpses of the playoffs, only going beyond the first round once in the last 20 years, it hasn’t been pretty.
While he’s certainly tried, there have been more than a few management decisions over the years that have been questionable. Consider him letting George Karl talk him into letting Ray Allen go nine years ago. Consider him bringing in Larry Harris and agreeing to hire Terry Porter. Consider where the team is now, missing the playoffs six out of the last seven years.
Kohl just brought back GM Jon Hammonds and Coach Scott Skiles for one season, although he didn’t renew their contracts beyond that. What effect will their “lame duck” status have on the team next season? And what do you do after that, go back to the GM/coach carousel and pick off some new ones?
The new arena would all be so much easier to sell if we had a good team, if we had some kind of consistency in the roster, and not the journeyman exchange that’s been going on for a while now. Do we have faith that Kohl can turn this around? That good players will want to play here? I hope so; I really do.
So I guess we’ll watch and listen, and hope for the best. I know that’s what Herb Kohl wants. I just hope he can deliver. That a winning team is a part of the plan. That survival is simple, and one day we’ll all understand.
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Follow me on Twitter: @jpalmer7890
