In the past, it's been a pretty simple process. A city and a team build a new arena, with the promise that they will host an NBA All-Star game and weekend down the road. Now, that promise could be broken when it comes to Milwaukee.
The Oklahoman newspaper the first to report new requirements of minimum hotel rooms, the size of a convention center and the number of nonstop and international flights. An NBA spokesperson says the league will institute these new requirements that would currently exclude Milwaukee. The game is booked through 2026, and Milwaukee is trying to get the 2027 or 2028 game. Here's what NBA Commissioner Adam Silver told me August 27th, 2018.
Reporter Lance Allan asks and the All-Star game was here in '77...usually this means it's coming back. Any announcements today?
"No, no announcements yet," Adam Silver said on August 27, 2018 while in Milwaukee on a tour of Fiserv Forum. "But I know Peter Feigin, now he can turn his attention to a new project. Certainly, an All-Star game is on the horizon."
Allan asks very likely would you categorize it?
"It very likely to happen at some point," Silver says. "I can't put a specific year on it. But we make a point of coming to new arenas. So obviously there's other cities that are, been competing for All-Stars. Some that got in line before Fiserv Forum, but there's no question we will be here with an All-Star game."
The Milwaukee Business Journal is reporting that Bucks President Peter Feigin will apply for an exemption to the new requirements.
