Back home to the Klotsche; practice facility next?

By now you've heard the news. The world blew up yesterday, as Andy Geiger announced that the Milwaukee Panthers would be leaving the US Cellular Arena once again for the Klotsche Center on campus. The university had been building up to this moment for some time, as negotiations with the Wisconsin Center District went nowhere fast.

The fact is, as both the university and WCD are owned and operated by the state of Wisconsin, UWM shouldn't have to pay the WCD a dime to play games at the Cell, only covering the costs of operating at most. At some point, the state should have been approached about moving the Cell from under the WCD branch to under UWM, but that discussion obviously didn't lead to anywhere, if it happened at all.

But that's in the past now. The circus-smell of February games and losing our home for the conference tournament to Disney on Ice is gone. What we're left with is a return to campus that is probably a few years premature, and it has everything to do with the facility being built in the 1970s that doesn't come up to fire code and would be a marginal D-II arena. If we were returning to campus in a new arena, there wouldn't be nearly as much nervous hand-wringing.

We're not, however. The Klotsche Center, in all its lack of faded glory, is now the sole home of Milwaukee Basketball. Many season-ticket holders left me voicemails and text messages telling me whether or not they'd be renewing their season tickets. Most of those who were talking about not renewing are worried that the amenities around the KC are lacking and about the prospect of playing in a D-III facility long term.

But is that all that's going on with this planned move to campus? Sources have told me that while the Klotsche Center will be the home for games as well as practice, the latter may not be there for long.

The inside sources confirmed that the short-term plan is to break ground on a brand new practice facility for Milwaukee basketball that will be a precursor to the new basketball arena, something that will allow the program to stretch its legs as it gets ready for a large upgrade.

It was made abundantly clear that nothing is set in stone, but there are plans in place to build a practice facility on campus in the general area of the Klotsche Center. This would make Milwaukee the fourth program in the Horizon League (Green Bay, Loyola, Wright State) to have a dedicated practice facility for only basketball.

Once I can get confirmation from the department, a full story on it will be out later.