As Peter Feigin departed as president of the Milwaukee Bucks, we must remember that he is (at least in part) the reason the Milwaukee Bucks still exist.
In the early 2010s, there was very real talk of the hometown franchise leaving. The Bradley Center was nearing its early-ish retirement. The “new stadium or we leave” debate was percolating. It wasn’t the funnest of times to be a Buck fan.
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Feigin, who was named president in October 2014, was central to the lobbying effort that convinced the State Legislature and then-Gov. Scott Walker to pass a $250M bill to co-fund construction of what is now Fiserv Forum. The native New Yorker told the Sports Business Journal lastweek that “my first and foremost job” upon being hired was to get a stadium deal done; it worked out because, he said, “(we) pretended we weren’t a small market.”
If it weren’t for that public funding package, the Bucks might’ve ended up in Seattle or Las Vegas. Do they even have deer in Nevada? (They do, apparently.) Starting from Fiserv Forum, likely more than $1 billion of investment has been put into the lively Deer District over the past decade. Its success has surpassed expectations to the point that there have been questions of giving the Brewers their own “Beer District.”
That lobbying success not only kept the Bucks here, but enabled the DNC to (kind of) come here in 2020, now-President Donald Trump to accept his nomination here in summer 2024, and almost-president Kamala Harris to speak here during the Chicago DNC less than 18 months ago. It secured arena shows like The Killers, Metallica and “Big Note Barry” Barry Manilow.
And with the Bucks remaining here (of course) came the 2021 NBA Championship, the first in 50 years for Milwaukee. It’s impossible to forget the citywide ecstasy of that run.
“I think reality could be a little bit better than the vision,” Feigin told WKOW’s A.J. Bayatpour in 2021 amid the championship run. “If you told me we’d be populating with tens and thousands of people on home and away games, more people outside than inside the arena… It would’ve been better than imagined.”
With the Bucks on-court success diminishing since 2021, it felt like it was about time for Feigin to make his exit. (Remember: While franchise presidents wield considerable influence, they are the business leaders of sports teams; they don’t typically have any say over roster decisions or coaching.) When billionaires Wes Edens and Marc Lasry purchased the franchise in 2014, the tabbed Feigin to take the reins. And so, in spring 2023 when Lasry’s share of the franchise was bought out, a changing of the guard likely wasn’t far behind – especially amid growing fears that Giannis Antetokounmpo may be on the outs, too.
Monday’s news of Feigin’s departure was unsurprising.
In 2024, Feigin reflected on the 2021 NBA Championship, telling MilMag: “I keep reminding myself that it’s a game of inches. How close it all can be. How you have to be prepared to be a little lucky … It’s this journey of perseverance. Anything can happen. It’s really about the team being together as one and getting better every game. It’s great to have been there.”
In 2014, the year Feigin started, the franchise had been purchased for $550 million. Today, it’s valued at $3.2 billion. That’s no small feat.
