Marc Lasry, co-owner of the Milwaukee Bucks, said this morning that the City of Milwaukee will be key to financing a new arena downtown.
But Lasry, who was interviewed at the Bloomberg Sports Business Summit in New York, hedged on whether he and co-owner Wes Edens would be willing to contribute more than the $100 million they have pledged for the new arena.
โI think weโre going to see how weโre going to develop that,โ he said. โI think itโs got to be a partnership, and weโve got to do this with the city, so I think over time that weโll be able to do this.โ
The new owners do plan to invest in the team to make it winning venture, Lasry said.
โWe bought the team, weโre pretty competitive guys, weโd like to win an NBA championship,โ Lasry said. โI think youโll see us putting money into the team. I think when you look at this, youโre really a steward of an asset. Iโd love to tell you we own it. I think, really, the city owns the team. The fans own the team. Weโre the ones who are sort of managing it for this period of time, and I think we have the responsibility to do the best we can.
โThe biggest thing is you want to sort of create a winning culture, and I donโt think Milwaukee or the Bucks have had that, so weโre going to be doing that.โ
Lasry feels he and Edens paid a fair price at $550 million for the Bucks, since the LA Clippers sold for $2 billion a few weeks later.
And he and Edens specifically chose the Bucks as their target for ownership, he said.
โWeโre thrilled. I had always been a huge Milwaukee Bucks fan, Lew AlcindorโI think for us it was great. I had no interest in buying a team in LA,โ Lasry said.
It could take three to five years to turn the Bucks around, he said.
โI think right now we have the best team in the NBA thatโs under 23,โ Lasry said.