{image1}In theory, the concept of bringing a Major League Soccer franchise to Milwaukee-- as well as building a privately funded, soccer-specific stadium to house it -- is a good idea.
But like many other good theories (The Baseball Network, Personal Seat Licenses, Communism, the elimination of Sunday doubleheaders, and so on), the practicality of the plan remains to be seen.
For those of you just joining the program, Milwaukee-based sports lawyer Martin Greenberg and his partners have proposed building a roughly 20,000-seat soccer stadium in the Park East Corridor with the purpose of luring a top-level professional soccer team here.
Greenberg & Co. would foot a majority of the bill for the facility, which would include retail, entertainment, apartments and office space. He's assembled a fairly powerful lineup of investors to get the project off the ground, but that's only half the battle.
Convincing Major League Soccer that Milwaukee is a viable market for the game, is also a must.
To do that, Greenberg brought in a seasoned soccer veteran in Peter Wilt.
Wilt, a Marquette University graduate, cut his teeth with the Milwaukee Admirals and eventually the Milwaukee Wave before embarking on an odyssey that eventually led him to be named MLS Executive of the Year while building the Chicago Fire into a Championship squad.
Wilt has experience in getting a stadium built, having used his cunning to convince Bridgeview, Ill. officials to build the Chicago Fire its own similar facility. He's been in the game long enough to know how things work and garners the type of respect a young ownership group so sorely needs.
So, what then, is the problem?
Not to bash soccer ... it's never really caught on here.
Fans were few and far between when Wave United -- the latest Milwaukee outdoor soccer entity -- took the decidedly minor-league pitch at Uihlein Soccer Park, far from Downtown.
In fact, Wave United was so unsuccessful that it had to end its affiliation with the United Soccer Leagues' A-League (in essence, the top minor-league division) prior to this season and play an independent schedule.
Roll the clock back a few years, when the Milwaukee Rampage was piling up a couple of outdoor championships. That team folded after winning a title, leading to the creation of Wave United.
Even before then, an idea was pitched to build a soccer facility downtown, this time as part of the Bradley Center complex .
Back in 2001, Milwaukee money manager and investor Tim Krause proposed construction of a 20,000-seat facility, just north of the Bradley Center, at 4th Street and Juneau Avenue. Under that proposal, Krause would have footed the $50 million price tag, with help from the Wave, Rampage and what Krause then described as 11 or 12 younger generation investors who understood soccer.
The city, not surprisingly, as well as the league, was cool on the concept, and it died a quick death.
Sadly, it looks like this project will suffer the same fate. There is little wrong with the idea. Greenberg and Wilt are very qualified to head such a venture. They possess the experience, savvy and general respect required to get things off the ground.
The obstacle lies, however, in reality.
Recent studies have shown Milwaukee's entertainment dollars are already stretched thin. The Bucks, Brewers, Admirals and Wave have had their share of troubles grabbing their share of fans at times.
The city has already shown hesitation with the proposed Park East venue. Further, the County controls the land.
This plan will, in all likelihood never get off the ground. The city is in no shape to support another sports team, and further, the City of Milwaukee has proven time and time again it has no foresight, and no desire to make anything but cosmetic improvements to its image.
So, for the next few months, Milwaukee Professional Soccer, LLC will fight the uphill battle, trying to win the hearts, minds, wallets and trust of everybody under the sun.
It's too bad, really, because if anybody could make this work, it would be Greenberg and Wilt.
