Just north of the BMO Harris Bradley Center, a massive superstructure is rising from an open field. The city’s new sports arena currently under construction is scheduled for completion in 2018, and will be the new home for the Milwaukee Bucks, who have been based at the Bradley Center since 1985.
But just to the south of the Bradley Center, the former home of the Bucks has seen some dramatic changes of its own in the past year. The UWM Panther Arena, once known as MECCA, is now home to several sports. The Milwaukee Admirals hockey team is based there, along with the Milwaukee Wave soccer team, the Brew City Bruisers roller derby team and, of course, UWM men’s basketball.
The move of the Admirals from the Bradley Center to the Panther Arena sparked a multi-million dollar renovation to the 67-year old building, funded in part by the Admirals and their owner, Harris Turer.
President and CEO of the Wisconsin Center District Russ Staerkel oversaw the project and says that preserving the arena's old-school feel was important.
"What we wanted to do is integrate the closeness. You know, when you're in this facility, [it's] more intimate. You're down on the ice, you're down with the players," he says. "You wanted to integrate all that feeling with the comfort that the now patron expects, the event goer expects. And you had to keep it within budget."
The renovations included fixing the ice making equipment, much of which was original to the arena. The upgrade included installing a full kitchen, renovating the bathrooms to be more energy efficient and a complete redesign of the Admirals' locker room.
"It's pride to see that the team that we have here, the district team, stepped up to the plate and really did something that some people thought was impossible to do in the time we had and make it happen. The vision, their vision, and hard work made this happen," says Staerkel.
He says he often hears from people who have spent their lives going to games at the arena, with their parents and then with their kids. "That's really cool to know that generation to generation to generations [that experience is] passed on, and they can see that there's still some nostalgia there, from when they were there, but they can also say that, 'Wow, you know, you've really created a new fan experience.'"
