Why the NBA Does Not Want Milwaukee to Host the All-Star Game

The Milwaukee Bucks' quest to host an NBA All-Star Game has grown much harder than previously reported

We are nearing a half century since the Milwaukee Bucks last hosted an NBA All-Star Game, and based on reporting that surfaced Wednesday, it’s hard to imagine that wait will come to an end anytime soon.

Joe Massutto of The Oklahoman, in writing about Oklahoma City’s own pursuit of landing an All-Star Game as they ready for a new arena, relayed the specific requirements the NBA is looking in host cities for future All-Star Games:

“The most significant requirements, per an NBA spokesperson, include: 

1. 7,250 hotel rooms and a minimum of three five-star hotels. 

2. Convention center of 650,000 square feet of exhibition space. 

3. 75 nonstop domestic flights and at least 20 international flights.”

Like you, I did some digging, and based on the criteria provided by the NBA spokesman, reaching those new standards is not heavily in favor of Milwaukee and the Bucks.

For starters, Milwaukee does not have any five-star hotels, though Visit Milwaukee notes that there are 8,224 hotel rooms in downtown Milwaukee alone. Second, the expansion of the Baird Center, which stands mere blocks away from Fiserv Forum, will reportedly bring the total site to over 1.3 million square feet, another point in the Bucks’ quiver. Yet the third bullet point is easily where Milwaukee falls short. Mitchell Airport currently offers 31 nonstop domestic flights and 5 international flights.

All of this comes on the heels of the Bucks putting together yet another bid to host the All-Star Game, according to Chris Haynes of Bleacher Report.

Even before the grand opening of Fiserv Forum, the Bucks have put forth plenty of energy in putting together a winning bid for the NBA’s midseason classic. It’s been a priority of the organization and once upon a time, it was the priority of the NBA and commissioner Adam Silver. Don’t take my word for it, though. Per Jeramey Jannene over at Urban Milwaukee:

“Since opening Fiserv Forum in 2018, the Milwaukee Bucks have bid for the weekend-long event multiple times. Silver, the NBA’s top official, previously promised to bring the game to the city.

“We made the commitment when the shovel went in the ground for this building that we were going to bring the All-Star Game here,” said Silver in a 2018 interview with the Bucks before the first regular season game played at the arena. “So now we just have to pull out calendars and figure out what year makes the most sense.”

We are just days removed from seeing Indianapolis hosting their first All-Star Game since 1985, and now, under this criteria, the Circle City would fall short in acing all three of those requirements. Yet, the impact of hosting All-Star is undeniable. The NBA’s head of event strategy and development, Joey Graziano, told Sportico this year’s All-Star festivities “would bring in more than $400 million of economic impact for the Indianapolis area.”

The NBA’s new rubric by which all host cities for future All-Star Games will be graded wedges the small and larger markets even more. Remove the Milwaukee element from this part of the equation and really think how many other NBA cities truly meet the criteria for hosting an All-Star Game? Outside of the usual suspects, it may be a long time before a game hosted in a city that isn’t New York, Los Angeles, Boston, and on down the line of whatever market metrics that the NBA clings to.

In an ideal world, the All-Star Game would rotate among each NBA city, giving a boost to local economies and celebrating the history of each franchise and areas that those teams cover. The latter was a touch that Indianapolis did exceptionally well with the eyes of the NBA world on them all weekend long. And for as long these cities are good enough to have NBA teams and the amenities that are needed to support them, they are definitely good enough to be considered for hosting All-Star games.

But as debates rage on regarding the true purpose of All-Star Games as the games veer into Whose Line is it Anyway? territory (i.e. “Everything is made up and the points don’t matter”), hosting an All-Star Game does still mean something. Even as the game itself doesn’t match that. It is a measure of recognition bestowed by the league to these host cities that get their moment in the spotlight, and are able to have the biggest figures in the basketball world in the same city for a couple of days and nights.

As popular basketball media is dominated by views of NBA cities by market sizes, and thus, creates the perception that the league is only interested in the bigger markets, stuff like this does not erase that perception. If anything, this enhances it.

Again, the significance of the All-Star Game is more ruled by the business for the NBA. It is a glorified convention that more or less celebrates the game of basketball and is as important to the NBA as it is to its many partners that work with and alongside the league. It grows the footprint of the league off the court as it tries to enhance the product and the ways in which we consume basketball. Even if that means doing anything besides just watching a game like a normal human being.

Simply put, the uphill battle remains for Milwaukee to be at the center of the NBA world for one February weekend in the future. Whatever lip service was once promised that the city was a worthy one to host All-Star, the NBA is certainly making sure that it will be a long time before its prospects hold up anytime soon.