• No permanent solution in Klotsche

    It's been about one month since my conversation with Associate AD for Finance Charlie Gross about the move to the Klotsche Center. Since then, the program has delivered on a couple of the ideas that Gross was kicking around during our discussion. There will be video boards. There will be new score boards (no word on whether or not they will have player points and fouls).

    But in the end, the Klotsche Center is not the home of the future. Not if Milwaukee plans on being a legitimate major program.

    First, let me tell you my definition of a major program. I don't buy into the idea that conference decides where you stand. It's obvious that despite playing in the Atlantic 10 of the past decade, Xavier has been one of the top 15 programs in the country. The Atlantic 10 will be much better this year and in the future, enough that they are a "high-major" if you will. But Xavier hasn't been in a major conference and that hasn't stopped their fans from booking flights to the Sweet 16 before the tournament starts each year.

    Butler, for all this rivalry has been for the past decade, is definitely a major program. They have been for awhile. The money they spend in basketball has only recently blown up, but delivering victory after victory against the establishment, while occupying one of the cathedrals of basketball, makes them "major."

    And that home is worthy of it. Is the Klotsche Center? No, of course not. Was the Cell? Perhaps, but the money we needed to move forward was being poured into Franklin Gimbel's coffers at the Wisconsin Center District. While the Cell was a good place to watch a game and its location had nice amenities around it, the truth of the matter is that we were spinning our wheels there. Now? We're in flat-out reverse.

    Playing at the Klotsche Center is okay. I have few problems with the Klotsche Center as a home for the Milwaukee Panthers in 2012. However, playing at the Klotsche Center for the foreseeable future is NOT okay.

    What I mean is this. The move to the Klotsche Center has alienated a lot of fans. A lot of fans are turned away by the lack of restaurants within walking distance, the possible lack of beer sales, and the fact that the Klotsche Center is not a viable long-term facility.

    Geiger was right when he told Michael Hunt of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel that "We are what we are, a 3,500-seat pullout bleacher facility." He went on to talk about how it would be more "2012," an updated version of the KC we're used to. I could go on an on about how it's putting lipstick on a pig, but in the end it doesn't matter what they do to the Klotsche Center physically. Not unless it's a big, big change, like dropping the floor to parking level and completely rebuilding the inside of the arena a la Gentile Arena.

    We don't know what the plans are, and that's the problem. For fans who have been promised an arena since 2009, waiting is not something they're prepared to do indefinitely. They want answers, and they want them now.

    When the move to the Klotsche Center was announced, I'd have hoped to see an outline for a new arena at the very least. 'We hope to have a facility built within five years,' or 'We are pulling together plans to get it done,' anything would have worked. The silence is deafening, and so many fans are worried that at the open house later this month they'll be looking for their seats for the next ten years.

    Geiger said that he sees a practice facility for basketball within the next 3-5 years. What does that mean? Do you hope to see shovels in the ground in 3-5? Will it be built by then? Are you planning to be a part of building that facility, as the 3-5 year window begins two years after your contract is up?

    I have questions. A lot of people do. For a program that has so much potential, such opportunities, it is frustrating to see that our move to the Cell in 2003 did not bear fruit. The move to the Klotsche Center looks like we're heading home with our tail between our legs, but it doesn't have to be.

    Put the plan together now, and get it out to fans - donors - as soon as possible. The time for Milwaukee to play its cards close to the chest is finished. Let them know what's up.

    If Panther Madness comes around - we just passed the two-month mark on the countdown - and we still don't have any real answers, it may be time for Panther fans to take matters into their own hands.

    [i]If you'd like to share your ideas, head over to the thread discussion at our PantherU forums and let your voice be heard.