Quote Originally Posted by Jimmy Lemke View Post
Cost.

New arena: $50 million +

New practice facility: $10 million

Not to mention the most expensive basketball practice facility in the country was $30 million. I'd rather we put a ton of eggs in that basket and see how cheap we can get the Cell with state legislators backing our play.
Time to create a new overall athletics facility.

Think of the Al Center at MU but bigger and nicer for basketball. Create seating capacity of about 7,000. The facility would serve as both a game and practice facility (at MU there is another gym below the court that is visible from Wells Street).

As part of the overall athletics building, include facilities for baseball with a new baseball field on the site. The back side of the basketball facility could open up into the baseball facility. Shared restroom facilities and a common concession area used by both the basketball / volleyball and baseball teams. Same overall entrance into an atrium that serves as the entrance for both basketball and baseball. Building houses all athletic offices, etc.

Need to show a committment to athletics and to something that would be of pride to Milwaukee students and alum. A top notch facility would be a great start. If Milwaukee had something like this already in the works, a conference upgrade would surely be possible.

Problem with the Cell - what if the maintenance costs run $500,00 to $1 million in a given year on the place? If UW-Milwaukee owns the Cell there could be a big financial risk due to the upkeep of an aging facility.