Bucks Will Play in Fiserv Forum
After multiple denials, Brookfield-based financial services company buys naming rights.
Fiserv Forum.
The Milwaukee Bucks’ new arena will be named after financial services technology firm Fiserv.
After the company denied it twice to Urban Milwaukee, news broke Thursday afternoon that the arena will be known as the Fiserv Forum.
“We are not the naming rights sponsor,” Fiserv vice president of corporate communications Britt Zarling told Urban Milwaukee on May 31st. Apparently what they left out was “yet.”
A Sports Business Daily report said the company was negotiating a $6 million annual deal lasting 20 years. The deal announced Thursday is for 25 years. Financial terms were not disclosed.
The company had previously denied they were involved in late April when I contacted them as speculation was peaking on internet message boards. It had been discovered that FiservArena.com and FiservCenter.com were both registered in January. Interest was further heightened when commenters started to connect the dots between the Bucks desire for an office tenant in the Deer District development and Fiserv’s search for a new site for its headquarters that has been delayed for months.
Fiserv has not committed to a location for its new headquarters yet. The last report from the company was that it was evaluating sites in The Corridor in Brookfield, the UW-Milwaukee Innovation Campus in Wauwatosa and the Reed Street Yards in Milwaukee for its corporate headquarters, as well as sites outside of Wisconsin. It previously ruled out a possible site in Schlitz Park. Potential sites outside of Milwaukee include Alpharetta, Georgia where the company has approximately 1,600 employees.
But CEO Jeffery Yabuki said the search is focused “primarily within the Milwaukee area” at the company’s May 2017 shareholder meeting. An indicator that Fiserv might stay here emerged two months before that: in March Todd Horvath, president of the company’s bank solutions division, purchased a $1.4 million home on N. Lake Dr. in Milwaukee.
The company has not provided an update on the headquarters search for some months.
The state has become involved in attempting to keep Fiserv in Wisconsin. Included in the state’s Foxconn financing package is $10 million in tax credits for Fiserv if it maintains 93 percent of its employees and the corporate headquarters in the state. An additional $2.5 million could come from the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation for capital costs and the selected municipality for the corporate headquarters is likely to contribute additional funds via tax-incremental financing.
The new arena, funded with $250 million in public support, is scheduled to open on August 26th and besides being the Bucks’ home, will book entertainment. The team announced Thursday morning that rock band The Killers would play the opening show at the arena on September 4th.
If you think stories like this are important, become a member of Urban Milwaukee and help support real independent journalism. Plus you get some cool added benefits, all detailed here.
More about the New Bucks Arena
- Back in the News: Bucks Owners Continue to Cash In - Bruce Murphy - Nov 28th, 2022
- Murphy’s Law: Bucks Subsidy An Issue in US Senate Race - Bruce Murphy - May 9th, 2022
- Murphy’s Law: Bucks Franchise Worth $1.86 Billion - Bruce Murphy - Jan 25th, 2021
- Op Ed: County Parks Lost Funding to Bucks Arena - Patricia Jursik - Jul 7th, 2020
- Eyes on Milwaukee: Fiserv Forum Workers to Get $15/Hour - Jeramey Jannene - Jan 29th, 2020
- Eyes on Milwaukee: Bucks Beat Hiring Targets on Fiserv Forum - Jeramey Jannene - Nov 20th, 2019
- Murphy’s Law: Taxpayers Make Bucks, Brewers Rich - Bruce Murphy - Apr 16th, 2019
- Eyes on Milwaukee: Bucks Unveil Master Plan for Park East - Jeramey Jannene - Mar 15th, 2019
- Eyes on Milwaukee: Bucks Plan Massive Arena Signs - Jeramey Jannene - Feb 12th, 2019
- Eyes on Milwaukee: Bucks’ New Bar Is “The MECCA” - Jeramey Jannene - Feb 7th, 2019
Read more about New Bucks Arena here
Eyes on Milwaukee
-
Church, Cupid Partner On Affordable Housing
Dec 4th, 2023 by Jeramey Jannene
-
Downtown Building Sells For Nearly Twice Its Assessed Value
Nov 12th, 2023 by Jeramey Jannene
-
Immigration Office Moving To 310W Building
Oct 25th, 2023 by Jeramey Jannene
Yeah, babe! 🙂
Locals will shorten it to “the Forum.” I like it.
I never think of MIlwaukee as a “Forum” kind of city, but more of an “arena” town. So, maybe it’s time for a change! I can’t wait to see the actual signage, floor, branding renderings…
Fiserv should build a high rise building somewhere in Downtown Milwaukee and be part of the Milwaukee Renaissance.
All the big tech companies in the bay area, seattle, boston, do dual offices – city & suburb. Everyone is so connected, there’s so much remote work, it just makes sense to offer both. City has the dynamism, afterwork happy hours, lunch scene, university connections, under 35 & over 60 worker force. Burbs have the big campuses, collaboration spaces, on-site daycares, etc. We’ll see what Fiserv does with their HQ… Long term, MKE & its burbs need to stop the in-fighting and realize they can offer an appealing package deal. Excited to see them building a brand downtown, either way.
Thanks Fiserv ! Now move to where things are happening – Milwaukee! You can’t go wrong – especially if you move near a streetcar route – or propose one to go near your new headquarters.
So how do you trust the BUCKS (and now FISERV) after they lied to the public and press months back about NOT being the naming sponsor? It may “seem” like a little thing, but think about it…. And of course, the people making up the signage both indoors and out knew MONTHS ago…especially since it is already imprinted on the floor on photographs from yesterday. Why the suspense Mr. Feigin?
@DAG999 – You’re looking too much into this. Everyone knows you can’t say anything publicly until the the lawyers have everything signed and say it is OK to comment on it. Fiserv was signing a major contract with the Bucks and did not want to mis-speak and mess up negotiations and take away some sort of leverage.
I don’t think FISERVE deserves more tax credits, incentives, or WEDC money, especially after the public is being fleeced not only for the Bucks Arena, but is still paying for Miller Park, a complete scam of the public and an abuse of the public trust. WEDC should aid smaller, entrepreneurial companies that are creating new work in new fields. FISERV’s 1.26 BILLION in profits disqualifies it from any need for taxpayer funds.
No out rage over Chick-a-fill-a. You lefties are getting soft. The Bucks are in bed with Christian’s serving chicken.
Hmm: https://www.jsonline.com/story/news/politics/2018/07/30/bucks-naming-rights-deal-comes-after-subsidy-package-fiserv/852198002/