By Jimmy Carlton Sportswriter Published Jan 06, 2018 at 1:03 PM

Season tickets for the Milwaukee Bucks’ inaugural season in their upcoming new Downtown arena went on sale to the general public on Friday, and fans responded with eager enthusiasm.

Through the first day of public sale, the team announced Saturday morning, the Bucks had sold more than 300 new full-season ticket memberships for 2018-19 in the Wisconsin Entertainment and Sports Center.

"There’s clearly a sense of high urgency from Bucks fans to secure their seats in our new world-class arena," Bucks President Peter Feigin said in a statement. "Demand is at a fever pitch, and we anticipate exceeding our already lofty expectations."

The strong start to the season-ticket campaign for the new arena follows the Bucks’ impressive 2017-18 sales period, when the team sold 2,600 full memberships entering this season.

"There’s an incredible amount of buzz about Milwaukee’s new Downtown arena and the Bucks," Feigin said. "We’re excited to create an unprecedented experience and look forward to opening our doors to this world-class venue. It’s a great time to be a Bucks fan."

Scheduled to open this fall, the NBA’s newest arena will seat 17,500 for basketball games – 18,00 for concerts – and offer incomparable sightlines, service and amenities, with a uniquely intimate configuration well-suited for sports and other events. It will also feature 34 luxury suites and three clubs.

The Wisconsin Entertainment and Sports Center will host a wide variety of events, including the Bucks, Marquette men’s basketball, major concerts and family shows, as well as other sports and entertainment. According to the team, the state-of-the-art WESC – which has yet to announce a naming rights partner – is 75 percent complete.

Fans wishing to buy full-season ticket memberships for the Bucks’ first year in their new arena can do so by visiting bucks.com/fulls or by calling the Bucks ticket office at (414) 227-0599. For more information on the WESC, click here.

Born in Milwaukee but a product of Shorewood High School (go ‘Hounds!) and Northwestern University (go ‘Cats!), Jimmy never knew the schoolboy bliss of cheering for a winning football, basketball or baseball team. So he ditched being a fan in order to cover sports professionally - occasionally objectively, always passionately. He's lived in Chicago, New York and Dallas, but now resides again in his beloved Brew City and is an ardent attacker of the notorious Milwaukee Inferiority Complex.

After interning at print publications like Birds and Blooms (official motto: "America's #1 backyard birding and gardening magazine!"), Sports Illustrated (unofficial motto: "Subscribe and save up to 90% off the cover price!") and The Dallas Morning News (a newspaper!), Jimmy worked for web outlets like CBSSports.com, where he was a Packers beat reporter, and FOX Sports Wisconsin, where he managed digital content. He's a proponent and frequent user of em dashes, parenthetical asides, descriptive appositives and, really, anything that makes his sentences longer and more needlessly complex.

Jimmy appreciates references to late '90s Brewers and Bucks players and is the curator of the unofficial John Jaha Hall of Fame. He also enjoys running, biking and soccer, but isn't too annoying about them. He writes about sports - both mainstream and unconventional - and non-sports, including history, music, food, art and even golf (just kidding!), and welcomes reader suggestions for off-the-beaten-path story ideas.