Bucks say sales of new season-ticket packages are up by more than 2,100

The Milwaukee Bucks brain trust dreams about fans like Allyn and Erin Swan.

They already attend more than two dozen games a year. Believe in the team. Can't wait for the new arena.

And for this season, and next, they've taken the plunge and become first-time season ticket holders.

"I believe in supporting Milwaukee and its team," Allyn Swan said.

"We're excited about last season, excited about the new arena and wanted to make a bigger commitment. I want them to focus on winning."

Swan, a hospice chaplain, and his wife, a teacher, are no high rollers. He said he got pretty good at finding "after-market" tickets, sometimes for as low as $5, even for quality opponents like the Miami Heat.

But prices are rising, and they're recent empty nesters. So come October, you'll find them in section 209 in the Bucks' last season at the BMO Harris Bradley Center.

"My wife and I decided to treat ourselves," Swan said.

For the 2018-'19 season, when the Bucks move into their new $524 million arena, the Swans will be in section 220, in the lower bowl, just across from the home team's bench.

The Bucks say they've had great success this off-season persuading fans like the Swans to make a season-ticket commitment. Driven by fan optimism about the team and hunger for good seats at the new arena, they've sold 2,140 new season-ticket packages for the coming season, team officials said Friday.

That makes the Bucks one of the top teams in the NBA in terms of new season-ticket customers, team President Peter Feigin said in an interview. In recent years, the team was one of the worst in the league in terms of attendance and ticket sales.

"It's excitement about the team's performance and the buzz about the new arena and entertainment district," he said.

Like the Swans, about 95% of the new season-ticket customers are signing on for two years — nailing down their spot in the new arena that's being built with $250 million in taxpayer dollars just north of the Bradley Center.

Feigin compared the ticket sales to a hot real estate market.

"It's location, location location," he said, referring to fans trying to secure preferred seats in the yet-to-be-named arena.

"The number of tickets we've sold this summer is as much or more than after the '01 season," said team spokesman Barry Baum. That year, the Bucks made it to the Eastern Conference finals for the first time since 1986.

Excitement over ticket sales comes even though prices for some seats are sharply higher for the new arena compared with the Bradley Center. One fan recently told the Journal Sentinel that his seat in the lower bowl corner would cost about $2,700 at the new arena, a 63% increase from the current rate.

The Bucks point out that 50% of the seats at the new arena will cost $50 or less, and a majority of tickets will have a price increase of $6 or less from the Bradley Center.

The team's goal for the first season in the new arena is 10,000 full season tickets sold, with 16,000 full-season equivalents, which include partial season ticket plans and group buyers. There are about 7,500 full-season equivalents for the Bradley Center.

A variety of season-ticket packages are offered, including a 12-game 'flex' plan. Those plans include what's likely to be one of the hottest tickets of the season — the Oct. 26 "Return to MECCA" game against the Boston Celtics at the Bucks' old home, now called the UW-Milwaukee Panther Arena.

"That game's going to be crazy," said Feigin, who joked that he has "about 200 family members" clamoring for tickets to that one-time event in honor of the team's 50th anniversary.

About 12,000 tickets are available for the MECCA game, compared with 18,717 at the Bradley Center.

Feigin said he believed that there would be at least eight certain sellouts this season, including opening day, Oct. 20, against the Cleveland Cavaliers and the MECCA game. Other hot games include a Jan. 12 visit from the NBA champion Golden State Warriors, he said.

The Bucks say 86% of the suites and lofts at the new arena have been sold on multiyear contracts. Five suites and six lofts remain.

The Swans haven't been inside the new arena construction site, but have seen the computer images of the sight lines from their new seats.

"I just hope that comes with more winning as well," Allyn said.

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