Bon Jovi, Bucks to be last events at arena
Tribute to honor Pettit, donor of Bradley Center
The BMO Harris Bradley Center is preparing to go out with a bang this month — Milwaukee Bucks playoff games and a Bon Jovi concert remain — but not before a final tribute to Jane Bradley Pettit.
About 900 people will gather at the downtown arena Wednesday night for a “Shine On Celebration,” to honor the memory of Pettit, who paid for and donated the Bradley Center as gift to the community.
The event marks the culmination of a fundraising campaign to benefit 16 local organizations to mark the final year of the arena. The groups were selected with input from Pettit’s family and the Jane Bradley Pettit Foundation.
“We’ll honor Jane, we’ll pay her gift forward and we’ll celebrate 30 years of memories,” said Steve Costello, CEO of the Bradley Center Sports and Entertainment Corp., the nonprofit group that operates the facility.
In 1986, Pettit donated the $90 million arena in memory of her father, Harry Lynde Bradley, co-founder and chairman of the Allen-Bradley Co. The company is now Rockwell Automation.
Pettit, who died in 2001, was a generous philanthropist for decades, sometimes making sizable contributions anonymously.
The Bradley Center, which opened in 1988, is being replaced by the $524 million arena under construction next door. The new Bucks arena is being built with $250 million in public money and is expected to open in late summer. The
building also will be home to the Marquette University men’s basketball team.
When the plan to honor Pettit was announced last fall, organizers said they hoped to raise at least $200,000 for local groups.
“We’re pleased that we have exceeded that amount by some bit,” Costello said.
The Shine On event comes as the Bucks learn their opponent and schedule for the first round of the NBA playoffs.
This much is certain: the Bucks will start the playoffs on the road, and that means there will be at least two more games at the Bradley Center. The first home playoff game would likely be in the middle of next week, said Barry Baum, the Bucks’ senior vice president for communications.
The Bucks would get a third home game if the series goes to six games.
The Bucks’ regular season concludes on the road Wednesday against Philadelphia.
Thanks to the Bucks making the playoffs, the final weeks of the Bradley Center are setting up in a sweet fashion, Costello said.
The April 29 Bon Jovi show — the band’s sixth appearance at the building — is a hot ticket, Costello said.
Bon Jovi was the final show in the Bradley Center’s first season, Costello said. The band is playing Milwaukee on the heels of its induction Saturday into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.
“We’ve got a few tickets left — it’s hundreds not thousands,” he said. “There’s no question that it’s going to be a sellout.”
The only thing better would be if the Bucks were to advance to the second round of the playoffs — something the team has not accomplished since 2001. That could set up a conflict with the Bon Jovi concert, Costello said.
“When we booked Bon Jovi we knew that was possible,” he said. “We’re also holding Monday the 30th open, and if we need to, we’ll just roll the show to the 30th.”
After the show and games, the focus will shift to preparing for the shutdown of the building and selling off memorabilia. No additional public events are scheduled. The final event will be the annual Northwestern Mutual agents convention July 20-24.
Demolition of the Bradley Center is expected to get underway once the Bucks take occupancy of the new arena. The process is expected to take about a year.
The basketball team’s conceptual plans, released in 2015, call for office and retail space, and possibly apartments, on the Bradley Center block.