The Bradley Center
is an indoor arena in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. It is home to the Milwaukee Bucks of the NBA, the Marquette University men's basketball team, and the Milwaukee Admirals of the AHL (and formerly of the IHL) . It was also the former home of the Milwaukee Wave of the MISL from 1988-2003, the Milwaukee Mustangs of the AFL from 1994-2001, and the Badger Hockey Showdown from 1989-2002.
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BMO HARRIS BRADLEY CENTER TICKETS
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History
The arena was opened on October 1, 1988 with an exhibition hockey game between the
Chicago Blackhawks and the
Edmonton Oilers. At $100 million it was meant to be a modern replacement of its current cross-street neighbor
The MECCA (currently named the U.S. Cellular Arena), which was built in 1950. It was a gift to the State of Wisconsin by philanthropists Jane Pettit and Lloyd Pettit in memory of Jane's late father, Harry Lynde Bradley of the
Allen-Bradley company. The
arena seats 20,000 for end-stage
concerts, 18,717 for
NBA games, 19,000 for
college basketball, and 17,800 for
ice hockey.
Despite being one of the premier NBA facilities when completed in 1988, the Bradley Center is currently the 4th oldest active
NBA arena (tied with the
Palace of Auburn Hills and
Arco Arena, which also opened in 1988), only behind
Madison Square Garden,
Oracle Arena (which has been significantly remodeled), and
Izod Center. Because of the lack of modern amenities such as club seating and executive boxes (both of which are major sources of revenue), modern high-definition
LED video screens (the outdated 1988
Sony JumboTron
screens are still used), and outdated sound, lighting, and seating systems, serious doubts have been raised about keeping the Bucks in Milwaukee. Since the announcement that
Seattle lost their NBA franchise in 2008 because of their failure to build a modern arena, these fears have been legitimized. There have been discussions about building a new, $300 million state-of-the-art downtown facility, but lack of support from the city has kept plans from being formalized.
The Bradley Center is celebrating its 20th
anniversary in 2008.
Events
The Bradley Center hosted the
Frozen Four in 1993, 1997, and 2006 plus the
Great Midwest Conference men's basketball tournament in 1995. The 2006 tournament was unique because the eventual champion
University of Wisconsin Badgers had an unofficial home-rink advantage because of the statewide appeal of the Badgers and the location of the tournament in Milwaukee, just under 80 miles from the
Kohl Center in Madison.
The arena has played host for numerous
WWE events as well, such as
No Way Out 2002,
Taboo Tuesday 2004. One of the most memorable moments in WWE history occurred in this facility when
"Stone Cold" Steve Austin held
Vince McMahon "hostage" at gun-point in October 1998, until finally threatening to kill him in the ring. As he raised his weapon to fire, the weapon was revealed as a simple toy gun that fired a banner saying "BANG 3:16", causing McMahon to wet himself. WWE taped an episode of Monday Night RAW at the Bradley Center in September of 2007 and in March 2008, it hosted a three-hour WrestleMania rematch night
Celine Dion graced the arena on March 26, 1999. She enjoyed performing a concert as a part of her
Let's Talk About Love Tour. It was one of the most popular concerts at this arena.
Gwen Stefani was also going to appear at the Bradley Center on June 7, 2007 for
The Sweet Escape Tour
concert but due to unknown circumstances the concert was cancelled.
The Bradley Center in Milwaukee was one of the contenders to host the
NBA All Star Game in 2009, but lost to
Phoenix, Arizona and the
U.S. Airways Center.