Milwaukee Admirals, Wisconsin Center District Near Lease Extension

A Milwaukee Admirals game at UW-Milwaukee Panther Arena in December 2025. Photo by Jeramey Jannene.

The Milwaukee Admirals and Wisconsin Center District (WCD) are nearing completion of a two-year lease extension that would keep the hockey team at the UW-Milwaukee Panther Arena through June 2029.

And with a change in leadership at the publicly owned district, the relationship between the two organizations appears to have improved dramatically.

“We are grateful for how things have changed in terms of the relationship between the Admirals and the WCD recently,” said Harris Turer, governor and CEO of the Admirals, during a Friday morning meeting of the WCD board.

Turer praised several district leaders by name, including interim CEO Peggy Williams-Smith, chief operating officer Brian Rutkowski, former board chair and interim chief of staff Jim Kanter and current board chair Omar Shaikh.

“The tone of our meetings has changed dramatically and allowed for positive and fruitful discussion,” said Turer. “While we have some work to do, we believe this will end in an agreement that is great for both sides.”

The praise comes just four months after the district’s board terminated its former president and CEO, Marty Brooks, and follows a contentious period in which the future of the arena, and the Admirals’ place in it, seemed uncertain.

Brooks had commissioned a study from Hunden Partners that appeared to be headed toward a recommendation to demolish the arena and replace it with a convention center hotel. After his termination, he also publicly criticized the financial terms of the Admirals’ lease, arguing that the district was losing hundreds of thousands of dollars annually by hosting the hockey team.

In a July 22 presentation and subsequent legal claim contesting his termination, Brooks said the Admirals’ lease caused the district to lose at least $300,000 annually. He argued that he was attempting to address a financially unfavorable deal he inherited when he joined WCD in 2018.

The Admirals moved from the Bradley Center to the Panther Arena in 2017, ahead of the Bradley Center’s demolition. The team signed a 10-year agreement that expires in June 2027.

At Friday’s meeting, Turer offered a different perspective on the arrangement.

“Previous management would often tell us what a great deal we had. We, on the other hand, always believed it was one that worked for both of us,” he said.

Turer cited the rent paid by the Admirals, facility fees, concession and merchandise sales and other shared revenue sources. He said the total revenue associated with the team’s operations over the course of the lease exceeds $20.4 million.

He also noted that the Admirals were required to invest $2 million in the facility under the existing agreement, but ultimately spent $3.2 million. The improvements included painting, bathroom renovations, work on the concourse ceiling, building a team store shared by all building tenants and developing a bar.

“We realized there needed to be a lot more work done than the WCD had budgeted for,” said Turer, explaining why the team exceeded its required investment.

“We are hopeful that the new two-year extension will also work for both sides,” he said.

New Deal Would Reduce District’s Losses

The two organizations have reached an agreement on the principal terms of an extension, though a final contract has not yet been presented for board approval.

“I’m pleased to report we’ve reached an agreement on terms,” Williams-Smith told a WCD board committee on Oct. 15.

Rutkowski said the negotiations involved concessions from both organizations.

“[There has been] very open and honest dialogue taking place, and some puts and takes on both sides, concessions made, to ultimately get to a deal,” he said.

“I would like to commend the Admirals for coming to the table and meeting us where we collectively felt we needed to be so we could be successful in our operations.”

Under the currently undisclosed terms, Turer and Rutkowski said the district expects to improve its financial position by approximately $300,000 to $314,000 in the first year and $350,000 to $360,000 in the second year compared to the existing agreement.

The revised terms include an increase in the rent paid by the Admirals for each game, while retaining other revenue-sharing provisions.

Rutkowski said the current agreement includes game rent of approximately $3,000, with the new arrangement increasing that figure to approximately $4,000.

The district might still incur a loss associated with hosting the hockey team, but Rutkowski said the revised deal would substantially narrow the gap.

At the Oct. 15 meeting, Ald. Robert Bauman, a WCD board member, questioned whether Brooks’ characterization of the contract as a money-losing arrangement was the correct way to evaluate it.

Bauman noted that part of the district’s mission is to stimulate economic activity, rather than necessarily generate an operating profit on every event.

“We are supposed to lose money to generate activity for the benefit of the community,” he said.

Rutkowski said the district had reviewed the numbers.

“We did find that there was a greater loss that is associated with that particular deal, and with the modified terms that we’ve come with, we’ve definitely narrowed that gap,” he said.

At Friday’s meeting, Rutkowski again praised the Admirals’ leadership for the negotiations.

“I just want to say thanks to the Admirals, Harris and [team president Jon Greenberg], for getting these meetings together,” said Rutkowski, describing the negotiations as “honest and productive discussions.”

“I believe our relationship has grown stronger during this process,” he said.

Williams-Smith said attorneys from Husch Blackwell are working with Rutkowski to finalize the agreement. The completed contract is expected to be presented to the board in November.

“You will be able to see all the finer points of the deal when we present it at the November board meeting,” she said Oct. 15.

New Leadership, New Direction

The proposed agreement comes amid a substantial leadership transition at the Wisconsin Center District.

Brooks was terminated for cause on June 8 after a board investigation into his conduct. His departure also effectively halted the momentum behind the Hunden Partners study, which contemplated replacing the aging arena or Miller High Life Theatre with a new convention center hotel.

The board voted Friday to approve a settlement with Brooks.

After Kanter initially served as chief of staff following Brooks’ termination, Williams-Smith, who also leads VISIT Milwaukee, was appointed president and CEO in September to provide interim leadership while the district searches for a permanent president and CEO.

“My role is to provide additional stability and leadership during the transition,” she said Friday.

Williams-Smith said she is currently devoting approximately 60% of her time to the district, with that balance expected to evolve as she becomes more familiar with its operations.

“I want to reinforce that my role is to provide continuity while the board conducts its search for a new president and CEO,” she said.

The district’s annual budget presentation has been pushed back a month to November because of the leadership transition.

Meanwhile, the district is also negotiating an extension of the theater’s naming rights agreement with Molson Coors. Williams-Smith said those discussions are progressing well.

The board’s search for a permanent CEO is also awaiting additional developments. Shaikh said Friday he temporarily paused work on the search committee because several board seats are expected to turn over in November as elections will change the political appointees.

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