The Bradley Center (also known as the BMO Harris Bradley Center under sponsorship agreements) was a multi-purpose arena located on the northwest corner of North Vel R. Phillips Ave. and West State Streets in

downtown ''Downtown'' is a term primarily used in North America by English speakers to refer to a city's sometimes commercial, cultural and often the historical, political and geographic heart. It is often synonymous with its central business distric ...

Milwaukee Milwaukee ( ), officially the City of Milwaukee, is both the most populous and most densely populated city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin and the county seat of Milwaukee County. With a population of 577,222 at the 2020 census, Milwaukee is ...

Wisconsin Wisconsin () is a state in the upper Midwestern United States. Wisconsin is the 25th-largest state by total area and the 20th-most populous. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake M ...

, United States. It was home to the

Milwaukee Bucks The Milwaukee Bucks are an American professional basketball team based in Milwaukee. The Bucks compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Central Division. The team was founded in 1968 ...

of the

NBA The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America. The league is composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada) and is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United St ...

and the

Marquette University Marquette University () is a Private university, private Society of Jesus, Jesuit research university in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Established by the Society of Jesus as Marquette College on August 28, 1881, it was founded by John Henni, John Martin ...

men's basketball team. It was also the home of the

Milwaukee Wave The Milwaukee Wave is an American professional indoor soccer team based in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Founded in 1984, they have been the oldest continuously operating professional soccer team in the United States and are seven-time league champions, m ...

of the

MISL The Misls (derived from an Arabic word wikt:مثل#Etymology_3, مِثْل meaning 'equal') were the twelve sovereign states of the Sikh Confederacy, which rose during the 18th century in the Punjab region in the northern part of the Indian ...

, from 1988 to 2003, the original Milwaukee Mustangs of the

AFL AFL may refer to: Sports * American Football League (AFL), a name shared by several separate and unrelated professional American football leagues: ** American Football League (1926) (a.k.a. "AFL I"), first rival of the National Football Leagu ...

from 1994 to 2001, along with the second incarnation of the team from 2009 to 2012, the Badger Hockey Showdown from 1989 to 2002, and the

Milwaukee Admirals The Milwaukee Admirals are a professional ice hockey team in the American Hockey League (AHL). They play in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States, at the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee Panther Arena. They are affiliated with the NHL's Nashvil ...

of the AHL (and formerly of the IHL) from 1988 to 2016. The arena employed about 50 full-time employees, mostly tradespeople, and about 700 part-time employees to help during events. Following the opening of the new

Fiserv Forum Fiserv Forum (stylized as fiserv.forum) () is a multi-purpose arena located in downtown Milwaukee, Wisconsin. It is the home of the Milwaukee Bucks of the National Basketball Association (NBA) and the Marquette Golden Eagles men's basketball tea ...

in late August 2018, the Bradley Center was demolished to make way for future development. Assets from the arena, including display boards, scoreboards, equipment and sports and concert memorabilia were auctioned off.

History

The arena opened on October 1, 1988, with an exhibition hockey game between the

Chicago Blackhawks The Chicago Blackhawks (spelled Black Hawks until 1986, and known colloquially as the Hawks) are a professional ice hockey team based in Chicago. The Blackhawks compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Central Division i ...

and the

Edmonton Oilers The Edmonton Oilers are a professional ice hockey team based in Edmonton. The Oilers compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Pacific Division of the Western Conference. They play their home games at Rogers Place, which ...

. At $90 million, it was meant to be a modern replacement of its current cross-street neighbor, The MECCA (now the

UW–Milwaukee Panther Arena The UW–Milwaukee Panther Arena (originally the Milwaukee Arena and formerly MECCA Arena and U.S. Cellular Arena) is an indoor arena located in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The arena, which seats as many as 12,700 people and offers of floor space, is ...

), built in 1950. The arena was built as an attempt to attract an

expansion franchise An expansion team is a new team in a sports league, usually from a city that has not hosted a team in that league before, formed with the intention of satisfying the demand for a local team from a population in a new area. Sporting leagues also ...

for the

National Hockey League The National Hockey League (NHL; french: Ligue nationale de hockey—LNH, ) is a professional ice hockey league in North America comprising 32 teams—25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. It is considered to be the top ranked professional ...

, though this never occurred, and the International Hockey League's

(later moving to the

American Hockey League The American Hockey League (AHL) is a professional ice hockey league based in the United States and Canada that serves as the primary Minor league#Ice hockey, developmental league for the National Hockey League (NHL). Since the 2010–11 AHL se ...

) used the arena for the majority of its existence. The MECCA, during much of its time operating as an NBA facility, had the league's smallest seating capacity, holding just over 11,000 people. Funds to build the Center were donated as a gift to the State of Wisconsin by broadcaster/Admirals owner

Lloyd Pettit Lloyd Pettit (March 22, 1927 – November 11, 2003) was a sportscaster in Chicago and Milwaukee as well as the owner of the Milwaukee Admirals. Early life Pettit was born in Chicago and moved as a small child to the Milwaukee suburb of Shorewood ...

and his wife,

Jane Bradley Pettit Jane Bradley Pettit (1918-2001) was an American philanthropist.
''

, in memory of Jane's late father,

Harry Lynde Bradley Harry Lynde Bradley (January 5, 1885 – July 23, 1965), the brother of Lynde Bradley, was the co-founder of the Allen-Bradley Company and the Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation. He "became deeply involved in conservative causes", John J. Miller ...

of the

Allen-Bradley Allen-Bradley is the brand-name of a line of factory automation equipment, today owned by Rockwell Automation. The company, with revenues of approximately US $6.4 billion in 2013, manufactures programmable logic controllers ( PLC), human-mach ...

company. Despite being one of the premier NBA facilities when completed in 1988, it was one of the oldest active

arenas by the end of the Bucks' tenancy in 2018, only behind

Madison Square Garden Madison Square Garden, colloquially known as The Garden or by its initials MSG, is a multi-purpose indoor arena in New York City. It is located in Midtown Manhattan between Seventh and Eighth avenues from 31st to 33rd Street, above Pennsylva ...

in New York City, and

Oakland Arena Oakland Arena is an indoor arena located in Oakland, California, United States. From its opening in 1966 until 1996, it was known as the Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum Arena. After a major renovation completed in 1997, the arena was renamed T ...

, although both had been extensively renovated during the Bradley Center's lifetime, and the latter was replaced by the

Chase Center Chase Center is an indoor arena in the Mission Bay neighborhood of San Francisco, California. The building is the home venue for the Golden State Warriors of the National Basketball Association (NBA) and occasionally for the University of San ...

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

in 2019. The donation from the Pettits did not include provisions for the building's long-term capital needs or annual operating expenses. While the facility was self-sufficient, its tenants had been at a disadvantage compared with other NBA teams due to the arrangement in the arena's later years. For several years, former Bucks owner and former U.S. Senator

Herb Kohl Herbert H. Kohl (born February 7, 1935) is an American businessman and politician. Alongside his brother and father, the Kohl family created the Kohl's department stores chain, of which Kohl went on to be president and CEO. Kohl also served as a ...

proposed constructing a new, state-of-the-art downtown arena, but the community reaction to the idea of a publicly funded arena was mostly negative. In 2009, Wisconsin Governor

Jim Doyle James Edward Doyle, Jr., (born November 23, 1945) is an American attorney and politician who served as the 44th governor of Wisconsin, serving from January 6, 2003 to January 3, 2011. In his first election to the governorship, he defeated incu ...

included a provision in the state's capital budget seeking $5 million in state bonding support to renovate the Bradley Center. The Bradley Center's board of directors told state officials that the building needs $23 million in renovations, so they reportedly agreed to raise the remaining $18 million on their own. During the summer of 2010, the arena's longtime Sony Jumbotron scoreboard was replaced with a new 3.5-million-pixel LED unit manufactured by TS Sports and Lighthouse Technologies, and was put into service in October 2010 at the start of the Admirals season. Unlike many other NBA and NHL scoreboards, the bottom panel also has an LED screen, allowing display of many images above the floor itself rather than a static image of a sponsor or team logo. On May 21, 2012, the Bucks' then-owner

and representatives from

BMO Harris Bank BMO Harris Bank, N.A. is an American bank based in Chicago, Illinois. It is a member of the Federal Reserve System and operates branches in the states of Illinois, Indiana, Arizona, Missouri, Minnesota, Kansas, Florida, Wisconsin, and California ...

announced that the bank had officially purchased the naming rights for the Bradley Center, and it would now be called the ''BMO Harris Bradley Center''. The last game at the Bradley Center was an NBA playoff game won by the Bucks over the Celtics, 97–86, on April 26, 2018. The arena's final public event was a

Bon Jovi Bon Jovi is an American Rock music, rock band formed in 1983 in Sayreville, New Jersey. It consists of singer Jon Bon Jovi, keyboardist David Bryan, drummer Tico Torres, guitarist Phil X, and bassist Hugh McDonald (American musician), Hugh McD ...

concert on April 29, 2018, while the arena's final overall event was the annual meeting of

Northwestern Mutual Life Northwestern Mutual is an American financial services mutual organization based in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The financial security company provides consultation on wealth and asset income protection, education planning, retirement planning, investme ...

's agents and beneficiaries from July 20 through July 24, 2018, concluding with a private concert by the

Zac Brown Band Zac Brown Band is an American country music band based in Atlanta, Georgia. The lineup consists of Zac Brown (lead vocals, guitar), Jimmy De Martini ( fiddle, vocals), John Driskell Hopkins (bass guitar, guitar, baritone guitar, banjo, ukulel ...

Replacement and demolition

On September 18, 2013, then-deputy NBA commissioner

Adam Silver Adam Silver (born April 25, 1962) is an American lawyer and sports executive who serves as the fifth and current commissioner of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He joined the NBA in 1992 and has held various positions within the lea ...

toured the arena and found it unbefitting of an NBA team. Silver said that the building was a few thousand square feet short of NBA standards, and also lacked numerous amenities. The NBA issued a mandate requiring the Bucks to relocate, or be close to completion of a new facility by 2017. BMO Harris Bradley Center demolition 03-31-2019

BMO Harris Bradley Center demolition 03-31-2019

On April 16, 2014, Bucks' owner

announced an agreement to sell the franchise to New York City hedge-fund investors Marc Lasry and Wesley Edens. The deal included provisions for $100 million each from Kohl and the new ownership group, for a total of $200 million, toward the construction of a new downtown arena. On July 15, 2015, the

Wisconsin Senate The Wisconsin Senate is the upper house of the Wisconsin State Legislature. Together with the larger Wisconsin State Assembly they constitute the legislative branch of the state of Wisconsin. The powers of the Wisconsin Senate are modeled after t ...

approved funding for the new

by a 21-10 margin, and on July 28, 2015, the

Wisconsin State Assembly The Wisconsin State Assembly is the lower house of the Wisconsin Legislature. Together with the smaller Wisconsin Senate, the two constitute the legislative branch of the U.S. state of Wisconsin. Representatives are elected for two-year terms, ...

approved funding by a 52-34 margin. On August 12, 2015, Governor Scott Walker signed the arena spending plan at

Wisconsin State Fair Park The Wisconsin State Fair Park is a fairgrounds and exhibition center in West Allis, Wisconsin, a suburb west of Milwaukee. It has been the location of the Wisconsin State Fair since 1892. The fairgrounds are open year-round, hosting various expe ...

West Allis West Allis is a city in Milwaukee County, Wisconsin, United States. A suburb of Milwaukee, it is part of the Milwaukee metropolitan area. The population was 60,325 at the 2020 census. History The name West Allis derives from Edward P. Allis, ...

. During the summer of 2016, the Admirals moved to the Panther Arena and the Bradley Center was modified to allow normal operation for two years while making space for the construction of the new arena to the north. The arena's icemaking plant and HVAC buildings were demolished and the arena's cooling facilities moved to a smaller facility away from the construction site. With the arena hosting no further hockey games, portable icemaking equipment was used for its last two ice events, the 2017 and 2018 runs of

Disney on Ice Disney on Ice, originally Walt Disney's World on Ice, is a series of touring ice shows produced by Feld Entertainment's Ice Follies And Holiday on Ice, Inc. under agreement with The Walt Disney Company. Aimed primarily at children, the shows fea ...

. Other modifications included a temporary loading dock and trash disposal facilities on the east side of the building. Over $1 million in electrical equipment, luxury suite furniture, and bathroom fixtures from the Bradley Center was donated to the Local 494 of the

International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers The International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) is a labor union that represents approximately 775,000 workers and retirees in the electrical industry in the United States, Canada, Guam, Panama, Puerto Rico, and the US Virgin Islands; ...

, the Milwaukee chapter of

Habitat for Humanity Habitat for Humanity International (HFHI), generally referred to as Habitat for Humanity or Habitat, is a US non-governmental, and nonprofit organization which was founded in 1976 by couple Millard and Linda Fuller. Habitat for Humanity is a Ch ...

, and

Milwaukee Public Schools Milwaukee Public Schools (MPS) is the largest school district in Wisconsin. As of the 2015–16 school year, MPS served 75,568 students in 154 schools and had 9,636 full-time equivalent (FTE) staff positions. The Milwaukee Public Schools system i ...

. Due to the arena's close proximity to adjacent buildings, including the Fiserv Forum and the historic Turner Hall, the arena was deconstructed over a period of nine months. The Bucks still own the Bradley Center site for future development. Exterior demolition of the arena began in the spring of 2019, starting at the northwest corner of the structure. Demolition contractors used explosives to cut the steel structure, but not enough to trigger an implosion of the entire arena due to the nearby presences of Turner Hall and the ''Journal Sentinel'' building. On January 13, 2019 the roof of the Bradley Center was imploded. The final standing part of the Bradley Center was felled on May 31, 2019. Bucks officials state that redevelopment of the Bradley Center site would not start until after the

2020 Democratic National Convention The 2020 Democratic National Convention was a presidential nominating convention that was held from August 17 to 20, 2020, at the Wisconsin Center in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and virtually across the United States. At the convention, delegates of ...

takes place. As of August 2020, due to COVID-19, redevelopment of the site will likely not commence until 2021. During the Bucks' run to the

NBA Finals The NBA Finals is the annual championship series of the National Basketball Association (NBA). The Eastern and Western Conference champions play a best-of-seven game series to determine the league champion. The team that wins the series is awa ...

in 2021, the Bradley Center site was used as part of the viewing parties in the Deer District for the Bucks' playoff games. For the Bucks' game 6 victory in the Eastern Conference Finals, the

's plaza and the Bradley Center site had over 65,000 fans in total watching the game.

Notable events

College sports

The arena hosted the NCAA

Frozen Four The annual NCAA Division I Men's Ice Hockey Tournament is a college ice hockey tournament held in the United States by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) to determine the top men's team in Division I. Like other Division I cham ...

finals in 1993, 1997 and 2006 and the

Great Midwest Conference The Great Midwest Conference was an NCAA Division I athletics conference that existed from 1991 to 1995. History It was formed in 1990 with six members: Cincinnati and Memphis State (now Memphis) from the Metro Conference, UAB from the Sun Bel ...

men's basketball tournament in 1995. The Bradley Center was a host site for second and third-round games in the

NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament The NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament, branded as NCAA March Madness and commonly called March Madness, is a single-elimination tournament played each spring in the United States, currently featuring 68 college basketball teams from ...

in 1992, 1996, 1999, 2004, 2010, 2014, 2017.

MMA and professional wrestling

The Bradley Center was host to

World Wrestling Entertainment World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc., d/b/a as WWE, is an American professional wrestling promotion. A global integrated media and entertainment company, WWE has also branched out into other fields, including film, American football, and vario ...

events since February 1989 (then WWF) when it hosted

The Main Event II ''The Main Event'' is a professional wrestling television program that was produced by the World Wrestling Federation (WWF). There were five shows between 1988 and 1991. Only the first three ''The Main Event'' episodes were shown live on NBC. Th ...

, where the Mega Powers of

Macho Man Randy Savage Randall Mario Poffo (November 15, 1952 – May 20, 2011), better known by his ring name "Macho Man" Randy Savage, was an American Professional wrestling, professional wrestler best known for his time in the WWE, World Wrestling Federation (WWF) ...

and

Hulk Hogan Terry Eugene Bollea (; born August 11, 1953), better known by his ring name Hulk Hogan, is an American retired professional wrestler. He is widely regarded as the most recognized wrestling star worldwide and the most popular wrestler of the 19 ...

disbanded, setting up a match between the two stars at

WrestleMania V WrestleMania V was the fifth annual WrestleMania professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by the World Wrestling Federation (WWF, now WWE). It took place on April 2, 1989, at the Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, New Jersey.The ven ...

. Shortly thereafter, WWE's ratings fell and they began using the smaller MECCA for shows. In the early 2000s, WWE returned to the Bradley Center for pay-per-views

No Way Out (2002) The 2002 No Way Out was the fourth WWE No Way Out, No Way Out professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) List of WWE pay-per-view events, event produced by the WWE, World Wrestling Federation (WWF, now WWE). The event took place on Attitude Era, F ...

, which saw the debut of the NWO,

Taboo Tuesday (2004) The 2004 Taboo Tuesday was the inaugural Taboo Tuesday/Cyber Sunday professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE). It was held exclusively for wrestlers from the promotion's Raw brand division. T ...

Elimination Chamber (2012) The 2012 Elimination Chamber (known as No Way Out in Germany) was the third Elimination Chamber professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by WWE. It took place on February 19, 2012, at the Bradley Center in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. ...

, and

Fastlane (2017) The 2017 Fastlane was the third Fastlane professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) and live event produced by WWE. It was held exclusively for wrestlers from the promotion's Raw brand division. The event took place on March 5, 2017, at the Bra ...

. The Bradley Center also regularly hosted episodes of ''

Raw Raw is an adjective usually describing: * Raw materials, basic materials from which products are manufactured or made * Raw food, uncooked food Raw or RAW may also refer to: Computing and electronics * .RAW, a proprietary mass spectrometry dat ...

'' and ''

SmackDown ''WWE SmackDown'', also known as ''Friday Night SmackDown'' or simply ''SmackDown'', is an American professional wrestling television program produced by WWE that as of currently airs live every Friday at 8 p.m. ET on Fox. Fox Deportes simulc ...

''. The BMO Harris Bradley Center also played host to the first

UFC The Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) is an American mixed martial arts (MMA) promotion company based in Las Vegas, Nevada. It is owned and operated by Zuffa, a wholly owned subsidiary of Endeavor Group Holdings. It is the largest MMA ...

event in

: UFC Live: Hardy vs. Lytle on August 14, 2011.

UFC 164 ''UFC 164: Henderson vs. Pettis 2'' was a mixed martial arts event held on August 31, 2013, at the BMO Harris Bradley Center in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Background The main event was expected to be a UFC Lightweight Championship bout between the c ...

was also held at the arena on August 31, 2013.

Other events

The

Jerry Garcia Band The Jerry Garcia Band was a San Francisco Bay Area rock band led by Jerry Garcia of the Grateful Dead. Garcia founded the band in 1975; it remained the most important of his various side projects until his death in 1995. The band regularly tour ...

played the Bradley Center on November 28, 1991, a show that was later released as Garcia Live Volume Eight. Early auditions for the tenth season of ''

American Idol ''American Idol'' is an American singing competition television series created by Simon Fuller, produced by Fremantle North America and 19 Entertainment, and distributed by Fremantle North America. It aired on Fox from June 11, 2002, to Ap ...

'' were held at the arena on July 21, 2010 with 10,000 people auditioning.

Images

File:Bradley Center SE Entrance.jpg, Southeast entrance in 2012. File:Bradley Center.jpg, The arena set up for a

game in 2005. File:Bradleycenterhockey.JPG, The arena set up for a

game in 2011. File:Milwaukee Iron At The Bradley Center.jpg, The arena set up for a

Milwaukee Iron Milwaukee ( ), officially the City of Milwaukee, is both the most populous and most densely populated city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin and the county seat of Milwaukee County. With a population of 577,222 at the 2020 census, Milwaukee i ...

game in 2009.

References

{{Authority control 1988 establishments in Wisconsin 2018 disestablishments in Wisconsin Defunct college ice hockey venues in the United States Gymnastics venues in the United States Indoor ice hockey venues in Wisconsin Defunct indoor soccer venues in the United States Former National Basketball Association venues Milwaukee Admirals Milwaukee Bucks venues Defunct indoor arenas in Wisconsin Defunct basketball venues in the United States Defunct college basketball venues in the United States Defunct arena football venues Sports venues completed in 1988 Sports venues in Milwaukee Indoor arenas in Wisconsin Event venues disestablished in 2018 Sports venues demolished in 2019

History

Replacement and demolition

Notable events

College sports

MMA and professional wrestling

Other events

Images

See also

References