The Bradley Center produces a net economic impact of $86 million each year in southeastern Wisconsin, generates $41.6 million in new spending and supports 1,068 jobs with an annual payroll of more than $29 million.
Those numbers are the estimates of a recently released white paper about the regional economic impact of the Milwaukee facility. The project was conducted by the Metropolitan Milwaukee Association of Commerce (MMAC).
“While there are still long-term questions about a new arena for downtown Milwaukee, the Bradley Center’s role in the business community continues to be quite significant,” said MMAC president Tim Sheehy. “The overall impact of having more than 1.2 million people attend nearly 170 events a year is significant, and we have to keep this engine revved up while we decide what to do about the future.”
Bret Mayborne, economic research director of the MMAC, said the Bradley Center hosted 169 events in its most recent fiscal year (2010-11) with ticket sales of nearly 1.6 million and actual attendance of over 1.2 million. When all the various spending activities attributable to Bradley Center events are aggregated, a gross impact measure is generated.
The MMAC estimates the yearly direct revenue generated by the Bradley Center at $95.8 million. Many of these direct dollars spent as part of Bradley Center events are re-spent in the local economy supporting more localized economic activities (indirect impacts) and producing an even greater total impact on the metro region.
Through a review of Bradley Center ticket sales, the MMAC estimates that approximately 70 percent of its attendees are local in origin (from the metro area). Conversely, 30 percent are estimated to come from outside the four-county metro Milwaukee area and with it new spending into the metro area. This gives an approximate estimate of base economic activity generated by the Bradley Center’s presence, or net new dollars pulled into the metro area. The MMAC estimates annual new spending generated directly by the Bradley Center by non-local sources at $41.6 million.
