Milwaukee – Page 25 – Marquette University Law School Faculty Blog

An Alternative Arena Approach: Arsenal and Emirates Stadium

Post author:James Wold
Post published:August 21, 2015
Post category:Milwaukee Public Sports & Law

Recently, Wisconsin governor Scott Walker approved an Assembly bill earmarking $250 million for the Milwaukee Bucks to use in financing their new downtown arena.

Since I was at the tail end of my London study abroad program at the time of the approval, it was interesting hearing a different perspective on the approach to arena building.

Over in the United Kingdom, it’s quite rare for the government to intervene (outside of the 2012 Olympics bid) in stadium deals.

I think back to the team I support as the ultimate in alternative model—Arsenal Football Club.

The Gunners were based in the Highbury, a 38,000-seat stadium that had existed since the 1920s. By the turn of the 21st Century, it was apparent to manager Arsene Wenger and the Arsenal board that to compete in England and Europe consistently, a new revenue stream was needed. This was before the staggering media rights deals for the Premier League started increasing at an astronomical rate.

Broad Support for Regional Economic Cooperation Found in New Law School Poll

Post author:Alan J. Borsuk
Post published:July 28, 2015
Post category:Marquette Law School Marquette Law School Poll Milwaukee Public Speakers at Marquette

A substantial majority of people in the Chicago “megacity” – the region stretching from the Milwaukee area, across metropolitan Chicago, and into northwest Indiana – want to see their political leaders make a priority of action that benefits the region as a whole, and not just actions focused on the needs of their own area.

But what does that mean when you get into details? How does that translate into reality?

That main finding of broad support for regional cooperation and those two questions shaped a groundbreaking conference at Marquette Law School on Tuesday. “Public Attitudes in the Chicago Megacity: Who are we and what are the possibilities?” focused on the results of what is believed to be the first extensive poll of residents of the sections of Wisconsin, Illinois, and Indiana that are part of the “megacity.” The conference was sponsored by the Law School and the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

Describing the broad conclusions, Charles Franklin, director of the Marquette Law School Poll and the Law School’s professor of law and public policy, said, “What we see is a substantial majority, over 70% in Illinois and Indiana, and 61% in Wisconsin, who say they would rather see cooperation among the governors and the elected officials,” than for political leaders to focus only on their own states’ concerns.

Julia Taylor on Megacity Cooperation: In Need of “the Big Opportunity”

Post author:Marty Kaiser
Post published:July 21, 2015
Post category:Marquette Law School Milwaukee Public Speakers at Marquette

Julia Taylor, president of the Greater Milwaukee Committee, is a leader of the effort to improve our economy through regional cooperation. One way to accomplish this is to understand we live in the Chicago Megacity, which is defined as the 21-county region stretching from the Milwaukee area down through Chicago into northwest Indiana. In 2012 at a conference titled, “Milwaukee’s Future in the Chicago Megacity” at Marquette Law School, she was on a panel of business leaders.

Ahead of the July 28 conference, “Public Attitudes in the Chicago Megacity: Who are we, and what are the possibilities?” once again sponsored by the Marquette Law School and the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Taylor talked about what has been accomplished in the last three years and opportunities for regional cooperation in the future.

Taylor has been president of the GMC since 2002. She is on the boards of the Milwaukee Water Council, the Governor’s Council of Workforce Investment, and VISIT Milwaukee.

She talked with former Journal Sentinel editor Marty Kaiser earlier this month.

Q. In 2012 the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, a global economic think tank based in Paris, issued a 332-page report that advocated closer ties within the Chicago-Milwaukee economy, and declared that the region “is at a tipping point.” The report was not optimistic about the future of the region, but said that if leaders worked together, the region could become more competitive in the global economy. Have you seen signs that the area has begun to work together in the last three years?