If you’re looking for something to watch on TV Sunday night, the NBA All-Star Game is on at 7 p.m. on TNT.
By the way, it is now 30 years and counting since Milwaukee last hosted the NBA All-Star Game. This year’s game will be played in Las Vegas, the first time a city without an NBA team has hosted the NBA’s All-Star festivities.
Since Milwaukee hosted the All-Star Game in 1977 nearly every other NBA city has had a chance to host the game, and some cities (Atlanta, Washington D.C., Los Angeles, Denver and Houston) have hosted the All-Star Game twice since then.
Will Milwaukee ever get a chance to host the NBA All-Star Game again? To do so, the city will have to add a large number of hotel rooms, according to John Steinmiller, vice president of business operations for the Milwaukee Bucks.
NBA teams must apply to host the All-Star game. The league has a list of specifications that must be met for cities to host the game. The Bucks have not applied to host the game because Milwaukee has not met the NBA’s All-Star Game specifications in recent years, Steinmiller said.
The biggest problem is that Milwaukee needs more hotel rooms in the downtown area, he said.
Steinmiller said he couldn’t remember how many more hotel rooms Milwaukee needs in the downtown area to get the NBA All-Star Game but, "it’s a significant number," he said.
In recent years, the NBA All-Star Game has become a major event with several days of basketball competition and the NBA All-Star Jam Session, an interactive basketball fan experience.
"Year to year, it gets bigger as more people go to the event, and not only to the event but just to be around the event," Steinmiller said. "It’s a world event now."
Milwaukee could add hundreds of additional hotel rooms in the next few years. About a dozen hotel developments have been proposed in and around the downtown area.
The NBA All-Star Jam Session this year is being held at the Mandalay Bay Convention Center, which has more than 350,000 square feet of Las Vegas convention space, much larger than the 189,000-square-foot Midwest Airlines Center in downtown Milwaukee. However, Steinmiller said the Midwest Airlines Center probably would be large enough to host the Jam Session.
Given the need for advance planning by the league, Milwaukee’s chances of hosting the All-Star Game again may also be hindered by some significant uncertainties: How much longer will Herb Kohl own the Bucks? Now that he’s been re-elected, will he sell the team? If he does sell the Bucks, who will buy them, and will they even stay in Milwaukee? And what about the Bradley Center? Can it be upgraded? Or must it be replaced? And if it is to be replaced, who in the world will pay for it?
If Milwaukee is ever able to meet the NBA’s specifications for the All-Star game the Bucks will apply to host the event, Steinmiller said.
"There’s no doubt in my mind that Milwaukee would be a great host city," he said. "People would love Milwaukee if we could get them here."
Andrew Weiland is the managing editor of Small Business Times.
