Milwaukee Bucks Deer District real estate project.
Source: Milwaukee Bucks
The Milwaukee Bucks, in their quest to repeat as the NBA champions, will begin this weekend playing the Boston Celtics in the Eastern Conference semifinals. Out of court, the team is seeking $4 million annually to acquire rights to its yard within Deer County, a 30-acre property located outside their yard.
In an interview with CNBC, Bucks President Peter Feigin described the origin of the naming rights as acquiring the keys to “a city we built within Wisconsin.” The deer area is part of the foreign economic development plan, to which taxpayers have contributed $250 million. The project also earned Bucks Square more than $500 million, which opened in 2018.
The Bucks property group includes prominent investors Mark Lasry, Wes Edens and Jamie Dinan. The consortium bought the franchise for $550 million in 2014. It’s now worth $1.9 billion, up slightly from $1.62 billion in 2020, according to Forbes.
The Bucks rely on the Deer Zone to help generate more revenue outside of the NBA.
“What professional teams understand now is — you build the mother ship and fuel it by a successful NBA team, and then raise the water level around you,” said Feigin, who is also chair of the governing plaza, Fiserv Forum.
Deer District Condominium Shows in Milwaukee
Source: Milwaukee Bucks
Bucks are the owners
Over the years, more and more professional sports clubs have added revenue from real estate to increase the popularity of their brands.
Golden State Warriors operates Chase towers and commercial and residential buildings outside the Chase Center. That helped boost its value to $5.6 billion, compared to more than $3 billion before the pandemic. Los Angeles Clippers owner and former Microsoft CEO Steve Baller is moving his team to Inglewood and will leverage real estate around the $1.2 billion Intuit Dome. This can enhance the value of clippers.
In Major League Baseball, the Atlanta Braves created The Battery Atlanta, a recreational and residential district. The Ricketts family, who owns the Chicago Cubs, owns the properties surrounding historic Wrigley Field. Jerry Jones, owner of the NFL team, created “The Star” – a 91-acre mixed-use development in Frisco, Texas, where the Cowboys practice.
The team’s real estate projects are cities within cities, where people live, work and play, said Jesse Sanchez, senior vice president of sports consultancy and appraisal firm Playfly Premier Partnerships. The company advised the Atlanta Falcons for the naming rights around the Mercedes-Benz Stadium.
Sanchez said the owners are looking to make more money from people who want to be around live sporting events, even if they’re not inside the arenas. “They are real estate developers now,” he said. “They are no longer just a sports team.”
Sanchez compared the Deer area to the Cubs’ recreation area, “Gallager Road.” The MLB team sold the benefit designation rights to global insurer Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. which is traded on the New York Stock Exchange.
Deer District Condominium Shows in Milwaukee
Source: Milwaukee Bucks
Feigin, Bucks CEO, said his team would “take advantage of opportunities to generate more revenue” with tenants, including a supermarket, pharmacy and gym. High-end apartments are part of the plan, and Marriott has committed to creating a hotel due to open in 2023.
“We are in full swing in development,” Feigin said. “We have a hotel in a third way. We are thinking of other principles. We will have people working there and more people living there.”
What is the benefit of this for business partners?
Sanchez said the price Bucks is asking for naming rights could align with the market, depending on the exposure package. The terms of the proposed deal would have to be at least 10 years, as he expected sponsors to take half that time to build on the rights.
Businesses added by Sanchez receive “multiple touch points” because small towns attract more sports consumers but “health and wellness” [consumer] To someone who loves to entertain.”
Another selling point for the Bucks is the number of times they appear on national television. Deer District appeared on Disney’s ABC network during the finals. The show “is equal to the impression and the value,” Vigen said, pointing to the more than 60,000 people who have occupied the Deere area to watch NBA games outside.
Giannis Antetokounmpo #34 of the Milwaukee Bucks celebrates during Game Six of the 2021 NBA Finals on July 20, 2021 at the Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Copyright 2021 NBAE.
David Sherman | National Basketball Association | Getty Images
But the dollars will need to keep winning to make this asset attractive. In the NBA, winning dynasties attract top business. This is why the Warriors, who are back in their title-fighting ways, are on the cusp of becoming the top franchise in the NBA, having crossed $700 million in revenue in 2022. The Bucks have assets that will help them last over the years, Also: 27-year-old Giannis Antetokounmpo, the MVP of the regular season twice, was named MVP last year.
“This is what a championship team and organization look like,” Feigin said. “We’re improving on what our narrative is and what our findings are.”
He said the Bucks had seen a slight increase in commercial inquiries since July 2021, a month after they won the championship, but they did not discuss the details. The team added Motorola as its jersey partner after that company split from the Brooklyn Nets, which the Celtics just swept away.
“You want the win to be your major accelerator,” Feigin said. “These are the moments to take advantage of.”
The Bucks play the Celtics on Sunday in a game of one of their best out of 7.